BCCI's anti-corruption unit under-staffed, ill-equipped

It was an accident waiting to happen. The sting on Pune's curator Pandurang Salgaonkar is a huge embarrassment for the anti-corruption system set up by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). It is learnt that Neeraj Kumar, BCCI's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) chief, has been writing to the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (COA) and chief executive officer (CEO) for months about the need to upgrade the system.

"He (Kumar) has been on the job and has shared suggestions to upgrade the system for months. The basic problem he faces is the number of qualified officials in his team. The current ACSU team comprises only three people. Kumar has repeatedly spelt out the need to hire few more people. But the board is yet to act on it," a top BCCI official told TOI on Wednesday. "He doesn't have a free hand to act," the official added.

The current system sees people nominated by state associations patrolling domestic matches and international matches. These could be random picks and they depend on the people in power in the administration for their assignments. All they go through is a seminar of four hours in a year before they are assigned matches. There are no qualification tests unlike those for umpires and referees. "There's no continuity. Each year there are a lot of new persons asked to do the job. And four hours is the only time they get to be trained. This is a glaring loophole," the source said.

While a BCCI ACSU officer and another officer from the ICC's ACU wing do come at the venue for an international fixture a couple of days before the match, the general patrolling is done by the semi-trained officials. "These officials are given headshots of all who can access the pitch and the dressing room areas.That's about it. But these people are hardly monitored," the official informed.

Another issue that has been put on the backburner is the need to hike wages of these officials. These officials are paid Rs 5,000 per day. According to sources, there have been discussions to hike it to Rs 10,000 but nothing has been finalized till date.

(TNN)