Dalmiya meets bengal finance minister over entertainment tax

The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) is caught in a fix over sale of tickets for the four World Cup matches at Eden Gardens following reports about the state government's plans to levy entertainment tax emerged.

What has left the Jagmohan Dalmiya-led CAB worried is that a major chunck of the tickets have already been sold online minus the proposed 20 per cent tax. Dalmiya, along with CAB joint-secretary Biswarup Dey, today met state finance minister Dr Asim Dasgupta at the Writers' Buildings, appealing to waive of the tax.

"We met the minister and there has not been any outcome. He wanted details about the number of tickets, facilities which we will provide shortly and then a final call will be taken on the proposed entertainment tax," Dalmiya said.

If the West Bengal government has its way in levying the proposed entertainment tax then the CAB may have to bear the amount from its pocket, sources said.

Dey pointed out that quite a few tickets had already been sold online before the tax structure was mooted, so who's going to pay the amount.

"Already a few tickets have been sold without the proposed tax. The ticket prices had already been fixed months in advance. It is not possible for us to pay the tax for the tickets that have been sold online," Dey told PTI.

"The government had waived entertainment tax in the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games. At least in the last 10 years, I have not come across a situation like this. They must understand that World Cup is not IPL," he said.

Tickets for the India-England match on February 27 has been fixed at Rs 1,500 and 1,200, while for the remaining games, it will be sold at Rs 1,000 and Rs 700.

"But if the state government imposes the entertainment tax, the price could go up by 20 per cent," CAB officials said.

About 15,000 tickets will be available for common people in the restructured Eden Gardens, which now has a reduced capacity of 63,000.

Out of 63,000, the ICC has a fixed quota of 10,000 seats, while 20,000 are earmarked for CAB members, brining it down to 33,000. But even that number will not be available for counter sales as the association will distribute tickets to the 121 affiliated units.

Earlier, each unit was entitled to buy about 200 to 300 tickets as club quota but, after the reduction in capacity, the CAB has decided to reduce the quota by 40 per cent.

Eden Gardens is scheduled to host four group matches - India vs England, Ireland vs South Africa on March 15, Ireland vs Netherlands on March 18 and Kenya vs Zimbabwe on March 20.

As a matter of fact, the online sale of tickets started on June 1 through ICC's official partner KyaZoonga and the tickets available in the first phase quota were all sold out for the India-England match.