The Hindu : All ways lead to Lahore

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 20, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

All ways lead to Lahore

By Sandeep Joshi

NEW DELHI, MARCH 19. As Sourav Ganguly and his team gear up for the crucial one-day cricket match in Lahore this coming Sunday, there will no dearth of Indians to cheer them. While a large number of them left for Pakistan on Friday in special buses and trains, another batch of supporters will board Indian Airlines flights in the next couple of days.

On Friday, two Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) Sada-e-Sarhad cricket special buses carrying mostly Indian cricket fans left for Pakistan. There was a huge rush at the Ambedkar Bus Terminal in the Capital this morning as a large number of people had gathered to wish good luck to all those cricket fans who will be among the spectators in Lahore.

"We are going to cheer the Indian cricket team who now desperately need some support. We hope that our presence will prove to be a big morale booster for our team," said Sandeep Arora, who was among the 70 passengers travelling in the two packed buses.

Interestingly, Indian fans had words of praise for DTC officials who reportedly approached the Pakistan High Commission officials regarding some visa problems that the Indian supporters were facing. "Earlier we had got visa for three days according to which we had to return here on March 22. As there was no return bus on that day and we could have returned only on March 23, we had to get visa for at least four days. DTC officials convinced the Pakistan High Commission officials and we succeeded in getting one more day to stay in Pakistan," said some cricket-lovers who left for Pakistan.

As for the two special buses scheduled for March 23, there is not much rush as only 24 seats had been booked so far apparently due to delay in issuing visa to Indian fans, said a DTC official, adding that those who left today would return on March 23 while another return trip from Lahore is scheduled for March 26.

Similarly, the cricket special train also left for Lahore amid much fanfare. To the surprise of Northern Railway authorities, the two additional AC III tier bogies it attached to the 13-coach train, including six sleeper and general coaches each and one AC III tier coach, were completely booked yesterday itself. "The response to our cricket special has been overwhelming. Around 800 passengers are going to Lahore, a majority of whom will be viewing the match on March 21," a senior railway official said.

In fact, people seem to be preferring trains to buses and flights as they are cheap and the journey is less tiring. An AC III tier ticket costs Rs.607, while the bus ticket is priced around Rs.1,200. And bookings for the next cricket special train, scheduled to leave on March 22, begin on March 20.

Meanwhile, Indian Airlines has decided to provide an additional 1,450 seats between Delhi and Lahore for the two matches. It began its special operations today with the departure of its first choc-o-block flight, an Airbus 320 carrying 145 passengers.

A senior Indian Airlines official informed that the airliner would also fly two special flights on March 21 and March 22. "All the flights to Lahore as well as the return ones are full. The response from those going to witness the match has been tremendous. Once the one-day series is over, we might plan some special flights for the test matched as well," he added.

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