India vs Australia: Raipur Stadium without electricity for unpaid bills

India and Australia will square off tonight in the fourth T20I at Raipur’s Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh stadium. But with just hours to go, it is being reported that the venue is facing electricity issues in parts of the stadium. The reason? Unpaid electricity bills going back to 2009! As per an NDTV report, the stadium has an outstanding bill of Rs 3.16 crore due to which the electricity was cut in parts of the stadium five years ago. A temporary connection was installed after Chhattisgarh State Cricket Association made an official request, but it only covers the spectators’ gallery and boxes. The floodlights, meanwhile, would need to be run using a generator. It has been confirmed by the Raipur Rural Circle in-charge Ashok Khandelwal that an application was sent to increase the capacity of the temporary connection of the stadium. Presently, the capacity of the temporary connection is 200 KW and there was a request to upgrade it to a thousand KW. However, work on that front hasn’t been fully completed. In 2018, athletes participating in a half-marathon at the venue had created an uproar when it became apparent that there were electricity issues over unpaid dues. Ever since the construction of the stadium, Public Works Department (PWD) and Sports Department have been at loggerheads over who has to foot the unpaid power bill. Raipur has hosted three international cricket matches since 2018. “As far as the stadium lights are concerned, I don’t know how much bill is outstanding but a temporary connection has been taken in the name of CSCS,” said Chattisgarh State Cricket Sangh media coordinator Tarunesh Singh Parihar. India lead the five-match T20I series 2-1 having clinched the first two matches before losing the third on the last ball in a thriller.