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BCCI officials furious at proposal to cut allowance

by Indranil Basu • Last updated on

While the players are paid USD 125 on foreign tours, the officials get USD 750 on tour. © Getty

The Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) office-bearers and committee heads, who draw around $750 per day as daily allowance (DA) on foreign tours, may see a massive cut in their allowance money on official duty abroad. Top sources said a discussion to reduce the DA of board officials has begun and the cut could be quite substantial.

With BCCI bearing the cost of airport transfers, air travel, hotel stay and food and even daily taxi fares, questions are being raised over why $750 should be paid to the board officials when the cricketers, who actually pull in the crowds, are paid only $125 as DA per day. Even state association representatives, who travel for special tournaments outside India, are paid $500 per day.

The board officials, who will travel with the team for the Champions Trophy, will be paid GBP 500 while the players will get GBP 125 per day. Of course, the DA of the players is above the match fees they get - Rs 15 lakhs per Tests, Rs 6 lakhs per ODI and Rs 3 lakhs per T20I.

Sources said the hike in officials' DA from USD500 to USD750 came two years ago. The players then were paid less than USD100 per day. Besides, board officials are also entitled for first class air travel while the players get to travel business class.

The question being raised with the board now is: How can the board officials, who are in honorary posts, not come under the purview of holding an office of profit after charging so much money from the BCCI?

Thus, there is a proposal that the board officials could be paid more DA than members of the Indian team but the amount cannot be almost five times more than what players get. "Since the office-bearers are senior members of BCCI and are older than the cricketers, they could be allowed to get twice the amount than the players. But not five times more than the national cricketer. This has to be revised," a member, responsible for running the affairs of BCCI, said.

When TOI spoke to a few board members, they were furious at such a proposal. "Enhancement in DA came through a resolution of the general body and there nothing wrong with it. The players travel 150 days with the team and the officials only do when there is a need. The players are paid match fees and retainership fees too. This comparison is not needed," a BCCI official said while adding the DA money is needed when the BCCI top bosses meet representatives from other boards over lunch or dinner.

It was revealed that when the board officials travel within India, they are paid Rs 30,000 to take care of their entire hotel and food expenses. The air travel ticket is based in the actuals. Sources added that there are officials in the board who spend Rs 2 crore per year, which is the top retainership fees of the Grade A cricketers like Virat Kohli.

© TNN

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