Kolkata: Floodlight failure disrupts a WT20 match between Bangladesh and New Zealand at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, on March 26, 2016. (Photo: Kuntal Chakrabarty/IANS)
Kolkata, March 28 (IANS) Ruling out any conspiracy in the floodlight failure at the Eden Gardens, Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) stadium committee chairman Chitrak Mitra on Monday insisted it was the carelessness of a single person which led to the debacle.
On Saturday, one of the giant light towers at the Eden malfunctioned which led to a 15-minute stoppage during a World Twenty 20 Group 1 encounter between New Zealand and Bangladesh.
The CAB held a meeting on Monday evening with 30 officials including members from the Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC), Public Works Department (PWD) and GARUDA (company in charge of the generators) to sort out the issue.
Questions were asked if a factional feud between CAB members had led to the blunder. But Mitra stated otherwise.
"It happened because of a human error. The man who did it has sought an apology. There was no conspiracy behind this. The media is trying to highlight the incident by bringing in the question of sabotage. There was nothing like it. And since he has owned up there is no need for an investigation," Mitra told reporters here.
The man being blamed for the fiasco is 73 years old and is said to have forgotten to switch over power supply from the CESC cables to the generator during the mid innings break on Saturday. Later when he tried doing that in the 11th over of the second innings, the line tripped.
To ensure this does not happen again in the future, the CAB has decided to station four people at each tower, as against the solitary personnel posted till Saturday's match.
"This is one of the best systems (the supply line switch over to generator) in the world. Just because one of the officials has failed to do it in the nick of time does not mean there is a fault with the system. We will now have four people stationed at each light tower (Eden has four), CAB joint secretary Avishek Dalmiya said.
Floodlight failures are recurring happenings at the iconic venue. In 2009, during an India versus Sri Lanka One-Day International (ODI), play had to be stopped for the same reason.
Prior to that, during a 2008 Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter between Kolkata Knight Riders and Deccan Chargers light interruptions shamed the ground.
