India conduct fourth T20I in Raipur with help of generators

India conducted the fourth T20I against Australia in Raipur with the help of generators, which were to be used as a backup to flood lights. The move came following the reports that suggested that the electricity bill was not paid by the authorities of the stadium for more than 14 long years. As a result, the power of the stadium was cut, which led to use alternate method.

The stadium in Raipur is jointly maintained by the PWD and the sports authority. Both the departments started playing blame games after seeing the reports suggesting their negligence to pay the electricity bills in the stadium. Reports claim that there was an unpaid due of over INR 3.14 crores, which has not been paid by the stadium authorities since 2009. The news went viral, which received criticism from the fans.

In 2018, the electricity department in the city cut the power supply in the stadium, as the bill has not being paid since a long time. There were temporary supplies installed in the stadium to as power back-ups for the athletes. There was protest from some of the athletes that brought the attention of media to the issue. The bill is yet to be paid from the authorities of the stadium, which is hard to believe.

Huge cost for usage of generator in the match

Reports claim that the notice of unpaid bills was sent to both PWD and the Sports Departments. But both the bodies ignored the notices of the electricity department. As a result, the power in the stadium has been cut since then. India ended up winning the match by 20 runs to claim an unassailable lead of 3-1 in the series with a game to go in Bengaluru.

Before the match, there was doubts over the event taking place at the venue, as floodlights only covered the viewing gallery and the dressing room in the stadium. The match eventually happened with the usage of generators, which supplied power for the match. The cost of using the generators for the match was about INR 1.4 crores, which is a huge sum.