For a first in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Bengaluru City Police force and DNA Networks, organisers of the IPL matches at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, have decided to sell tickets for the IPL only to people who produce their Aadhaar cards.
The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) plans on signing a deal with the Unique Identification Authority of India to link every ticket purchase to the Aadhaar number sometime after the upcoming India-England T20 international (on February 1). According to reports, fans will have to produce their Aadhaar card and give fingerprint impressions while buying tickets. The state’s Home Minister G Parameshwara has already given his consent to this initiative from DNA Networks and the police. A meeting has also been held with Aadhaar officials, who will provide equipment such as fingerprint scanner. The organisers had apparently wanted to roll out the system for the February 1, T20 match between India and England at the Chinnaswamy stadium. It was deemed to be not possible though with tickets already on sale and not all the equipment required being available.
A senior police officer said that while buying match tickets at the counter, a copy of Aadhaar card would have to be produced. The buyer’s card number and fingerprint impression will be fed into the system and cross-checked for authenticity. Those who will be buying tickets online by giving their Aadhaar numbers will have to verify their identity through fingerprint impression at the time of ticket collection.
Many have been pointing fingers at the Bengaluru mass molestation that took place on December 31, 2016 behind this move from the Bangalore Police. The authorities have stepped up security in every possible way to curb any further undesirable incidents in the garden city. This move will help organisers keep a track of all the people who attend a match, and shall ensure that in case of any crime or unwanted incident the police is able to track down culprits faster.
(With inputs from The Telegraph)