The BMC corporators are all set to receive passes for the World Cup Finals at Wankhede Stadium. And if Team India reaches the finals, they will get a pretty good view of the match.

Last month, Mayor Shraddha Jadhav had requested the Mumbai Cricket Association to send tickets for all 227 corporators of the 24 wards in the city, sources revealed.
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"But only passes for politicians, chairpersons and the mayor would be sent by the association," informed a BMC official, adding, "The tickets were supposed to come last evening. But they are expected to come today."

Lalchand Rajput from the MCA confirmed this. "We are sending the passes as per the list sent by the BMC. The passes are not for all the corporators," he said.

A corporator, on condition of anonymity, said, "Only political group leaders and committee chairpersons will get the passes, two for each person, while the mayor will get for four. The municipal commissioner will also receive passes for the World Cup final."

Officials speak

BMC Standing Committee Chairperson Rahul Shewale confirmed that the tickets would reach them in a day or two. "We are expecting the tickets to arrive anytime," he said. Mayor Shraddha Jadhav, excited about the finals, said, "I am surely going to watch the match. I had earlier requested passes only for group leaders and committee chairpersons."

Ashish Shelar, BJP group leader, Niyaz Vanu, NCP group leader and Mangesh Sangle, MNS group leader, all said that if India is in the finals, then it would be a delight to watch the game and they would all go with their family to catch it.

The match today

The BMC, seeing that the India-Pak semi at Mohali today is scheduled on what is a working day for most officials, has fitted its schedule around the match, so no one misses it. The Standing Committee meeting, which usually begins at 3 pm every week, has been rescheduled for 12 noon until 2 pm so civic officials do not miss out.

Other than that, the BMC staff plans to hurry home right after work, while some, not wanting to risk losing out on a second of the match, have taken an off.

Nitesh Rane's Swabhiman Sangathna will also be organising screenings of the match at Juhu, and Mahalaxmi.
Said Rane, "Cricket is a game which binds everyone. There are many children who do not have TV at home and we want them to see today's exciting match."