Civic authorities today agreed to grant DDCA an occupancy certificate for Ferozshah Kotla stadium on the condition that it ensures compliance of 60 safety related issues within 20 days, brightening chances for hosting of the T20 World Cup matches at the venue.
The Delhi and District Cricket Administration (DDCA) will also have to furnish a bank draft of Rs 50 lakh as “security” deposit which will be “forfeited” if it fails to ensure compliance of safety aspects, officials at South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) said.
The decision by the SDMC to issue the conditional certificate came hours after Delhi High Court asked the civic body whether it can give the permission to host the matches if DDCA complies with the safety measures within three weeks. The SDMC will inform the court on Tuesday about its decision. The court also observed that a conditional final occupancy certificate cannot be granted, adding that it does not want anyone to say later that something untoward happened there due to lack of compliances or due to some minor deviation.
“We should adhere to the highest standards,” it said.
Radhey Shyam Sharma, chairman of the standing committee of SDMC, on Monday said that the committee has “decided to issue a conditional occupancy certificate to DDCA giving it 20 days time to complete work on all the 60 safety related points notified earlier.”
He said DDCA has submitted that it has started work on 30 of the 60 safety related points of the stadium furnishing photographs of work and sought more time for complying with SDMC’s instructions.
“They have said work was started on 30 safety related points and sought three more weeks to wrap up work on all points. We extended 20 days time to them keeping in view significance of T20 World Cup,” he added.