Tuesday, March 22, 2011

19,000 tickets sold in under 2 hours, claims Gujarat Cricket Association

Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) officials claimed that 19,000 tickets for the cricket world cup to be played at Motera stadium on March 24 had been sold in less than two hours.

With one person getting no more than two tickets, around 10,000 people got the tickets in around 105 minutes. But many fans, who had waited in queue for hours, alleged that sale of tickets in black was rampant.

Many people who had stood in queue said that, instead of tickets, all they got was officials' arrogance and thrashing by the police. They alleged that tickets were 'available' but from other people and at nine times the actual price.

"A ticket priced at Rs100 was being sold for Rs900 by some people," a ticket-seeker, Vasudev, told DNA. "Tickets were being sold in black in that very area."

The ticket window was open for around one-and-half hours on Sunday and around 15 minutes on Monday.

"I was standing in the queue from 3 am on Sunday and was given the ticket at around 8:30 am. The ticket window closed at around 9 am," Rajan Garange, a cricket enthusiast said.

But not everyone was as lucky as Garange. Many people, who had waited in the queue for hours, had to leave empty-handed. People who had come to buy tickets from other districts also had to return disappointed.

GCA secretary Rajesh Patel could not be contacted despite many efforts to talk to him. Other GCA officials also avoided speaking to the media. GCA coordinator Dhiraj Jogani told DNA that 19,000 tickets were sold from the ticket windows in two days, while 3,000 tickets were sold online.

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