Sri Lankan cricket team has raised fears for its safety in India and have written two letters to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the additional commissioner (protection and security) of Mumbai police, saying they are unhappy with the security arrangements, Indian Media reported yesterday.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Interim Committee Chairman D.S. de Silva said yesterday that he is unable to comment on the matter as he is “listening to a programme”.
Maj Gen Lawrence Fernando, in charge of team security, wrote to the police while the team manager Brendon Kuruppu communicated the problem to the BCCI and to Sri Lanka Cricket officials, the reports added.
Both had expressed anxiety over some incidents during the team’s five-day stay in Mumbai.
Sri Lankans arrived in Mumbai on November 8 and, after a washed-out three-day game, left for Ahmedabad on Saturday. They are scheduled to return to Mumbai for the third Test starting December 2.
Fernando had stated that once a vehicle had got between the team bus and police escort van. In another, Shadow coach Chandika Hathurasinghe heard “unusual noises” at 4.15 a.m, coming from the floor above, at Taj Land’s End, the team’s hotel.
The reports said that while Kuruppu had said their police guards had only “batons and whistles,” Fernando asked for “police commandos carrying automatic weapons to cover both sides of the bus”.
“If they do not have weapons, they will not be able to react in case of a terrorist attack” Fernando had added.
He had also requested that police officers at hotels be briefed properly and that at least one officer conversant with English be posted on each floor of the hotel.
The police dismissed the concerns. Vinay Kargaonkar, additional commissioner of police (protection and security), said: “They aren’t experts to decide on security cover. We have studied the locations and given them adequate security.” The BCCI has not yet responded.
Sri Lanka team was the target of a terror attack in Lahore this year that killed six policemen and injured seven players and officials.
dm
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Interim Committee Chairman D.S. de Silva said yesterday that he is unable to comment on the matter as he is “listening to a programme”.
Maj Gen Lawrence Fernando, in charge of team security, wrote to the police while the team manager Brendon Kuruppu communicated the problem to the BCCI and to Sri Lanka Cricket officials, the reports added.
Both had expressed anxiety over some incidents during the team’s five-day stay in Mumbai.
Sri Lankans arrived in Mumbai on November 8 and, after a washed-out three-day game, left for Ahmedabad on Saturday. They are scheduled to return to Mumbai for the third Test starting December 2.
Fernando had stated that once a vehicle had got between the team bus and police escort van. In another, Shadow coach Chandika Hathurasinghe heard “unusual noises” at 4.15 a.m, coming from the floor above, at Taj Land’s End, the team’s hotel.
The reports said that while Kuruppu had said their police guards had only “batons and whistles,” Fernando asked for “police commandos carrying automatic weapons to cover both sides of the bus”.
“If they do not have weapons, they will not be able to react in case of a terrorist attack” Fernando had added.
He had also requested that police officers at hotels be briefed properly and that at least one officer conversant with English be posted on each floor of the hotel.
The police dismissed the concerns. Vinay Kargaonkar, additional commissioner of police (protection and security), said: “They aren’t experts to decide on security cover. We have studied the locations and given them adequate security.” The BCCI has not yet responded.
Sri Lanka team was the target of a terror attack in Lahore this year that killed six policemen and injured seven players and officials.
dm
