MCA to donate Rs.1 crore for drought relief

The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) on Sunday said it will donate Rs.1 crore to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for drought relief.

MCA vice president Ashish Shelar said a cheque will be handed over to Fadnavis on October 25, the day when India face South Africa in the fifth and final One-Day International (ODI) here.

This is the second successive year of drought in Maharashtra.

"Today it has been decided that the Maharashtra government has already announced drought. Therefore, the MCA will give Rs.1 crore as relief fund to tackle the drought," Shelar told reporters here.

The India-South Africa encounter will be held at the Wankhede Stadium on October 25. Fadnavis will watch the match at the stadium, where he will be given the cheque, said Shelar, also the Mumbai Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) chief.

Shelar also said that the price of tickets of the fifth and final ODI had been reduced. This was done "keeping in mind the fans and the excited spectators", he said.

"The online sale of tickets will start in two to three days while the offline tickets will be sold in a few days," he added.

The Garware Club House upper, lower and guest stand which was earlier Rs.2,000 were reduced to Rs.1,500. The Sunil Gavaskar Stand, East Stand Lower Clubs and Public were reduced from Rs.1,000 to Rs.750.

In the North Stand, the price of public tickets has been reduced from Rs.3,000 to Rs.2,000 while the price of tickets for affiliated clubs was reduced from Rs.2,000 to Rs.1,500.

The Vijay Merchant Stand West (Gymkhana) prices were reduced to Rs.1,500 from Rs.2,000.

The Garware Pavilion (Donors and Sale) and the MCA Pavilion (Donors), which were originally priced at Rs.12,500, remained unchanged along with Vithal Divecha Pavilion Guest Stand and Sunil Gavaskar Stand (East Stand Upper) which were Rs.5,000 and Rs.4,000, respectively.