SPO-STADIUM-LENDERS


PTI | Mumbai | Updated: 06-11-2018 19:51 IST | Created: 06-11-2018 19:51 IST
  • Country:
  • India

A cricket stadium in Pune has been

taken over symbolically by lenders for non-payment of a Rs

69.53 crore loan by the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA).

The state cricket association blamed its financial

troubles on non-receipt of payments from the BCCI for the last

10 months.

MCA International Stadium, located at Gahunje on the

outskirts of Pune, has hosted a Test match and one-day

international matches in the past.

It last hosted an international match on October 27

when West Indies defeated India by 43 runs in the third of the

five-match ODI series.

The stadium, set in picturesque surroundings,

regularly hosts domestic matches including Ranji Trophy games

and has hosted Indian Premier Leaue T20 games too.

MCA secretary Riyaz Bagwan claimed that the bankers

assured that matches will be allowed to be held at the ground.

State-run Bank of Maharashtra is the lead bank in the

consortium which has loaned money to the cricket body, while

the other lenders are Bank of Baroda and Andhra Bank (both

state-run) and the private sector Karnataka Bank.

As the lead bank, Bank of Maharashtra had asked the

MCA to repay the money under the Sarfaesi Act in August.

As the MCA was unable to repay, the underlying

security has been "symbolically taken over" by the consortium

of lenders, Bank of Maharashtra said in a newspaper notice.

The notice has been issued by an assistant general

manager of the bank's branch at Deccan Gymkhana in Pune.

A six-acre land parcel adjoining the stadium located

off the Mumbai-Pune Express Highway has also been

"symbolically taken-over".

The MCA owes interest of Rs 29.26 crore on the loan

and separately owes interest of Rs 30.65 crore for a loan from

Bank of Baroda, Rs 5.44 crore in interest to Karnataka Bank

and Rs 4.18 crore in unpaid interest to Bank of Maharashtra,

the notice said.

Bagwan said until the BCCI gives them funds, they

won't be able to repay the dues.

"When BCCI releases funds, then only we can make

payments. Since last January we have not received any funds

from the BCCI. We had six IPL matches (of Chennai Super

Kings), so we could sustain cricket and everything. But after

that, unfortunately, we could not pay," Bagwan said.

He claimed that there has been no response from the

BCCI's CoA despite him writing to them twice.

"After that I twice wrote to the Committee of

Administrators. I met CoA and Saba Karim (BCCI GM). During the

(India-West Indies) match, I told Saba Karim that the matter

was serious. The CoA asked me to mail them again. But until

now we have not received any money," he added.

Bagwan claimed that the banks have assured him that

matches could be conducted on the ground.

"That they (banks) have assured me that you can

conduct the matches at the ground," Bagwan added.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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