England team's tour can go ahead, says Uma Bharti

By Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI, OCT. 31. The Union Sports Minister, Ms. Uma Bharti, stated here on Wednesday that there was no problem in going ahead with the England cricket team's tour of the country.

``As far as the Indian Government is concerned, there is no problem in having the tour. The ground situation is much better than what we had anticipated soon after the September 11 attacks on the United States,'' the Sports Minister told The Hindu here on Wednesday.

The England cricket team's 80-day tour of India will be the first major international sports event to be staged in the sub- continent after many tournaments became non-starters following the heightened security scenario in the region.

India is making all efforts to assure England that ``all is well here'' and there is no reason for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to panic.

A two-member delegation from England will be meeting the officials of the Home Ministry and the Sports Minister here on Thursday. Mr. John Carr, ECB's Director of Cricket Operations and Mr. Tim Gorman, representative of the England players and the Professional Cricketers' Association, left London this morning for India to conduct security review ahead of the England tour.

During its visit here, the two-member delegation will be accompanied by the First Secretary at the British High Commission, Mr. Peter Holland. Messrs Carr and Gorman will then travel to Kolkata for a meeting with the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Mr. Jagmohan Dalmiya.

Ms. Bharti said that during the proposed meeting with the ECB delegation, she would impress upon them that there was absolutely no reason to worry.

After fears were expressed about the tour following the US-led strikes on Afghanistan, the Sports Ministry, on a request from the Board, had sought the opinion of the Home Ministry about the security concerns of the England team. ``The Home Ministry has given us the go-ahead,'' Ms. Bharti said.

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