Now, rules to regulate sale of tickets for events

Mad scramble and night-long queues for tickets at stadiums may be a thing of the past soon.

The City police have come out with a set of rules titled ‘Regulation of sale of tickets and passes for admission to places of public amusement (Bangalore City) Order 2011’ to check blackmarketing of tickets.

The police had invited objections and suggestions from citizens on the draft. Surprisingly, none except the Karnataka State Cricket Association, came out with suggestions. A month’s time had been granted for people to respond.

The draft rules have now been forwarded to the government for approval.

Blackmarketing of tickets was rampant during the India-England World Cup cricket match in Bangalore. With desperate fans scrambling for tickets, police resorted to caning the crowd. A few were injured in the melee and the incident generated much heat.

A few legislators raised the issue in the Assembly alleging that the KSCA had not made proper arrangements for the sale of tickets. Consequently, draft rules have been framed to streamline the sale of tickets. The rules are not applicable to cricket matches at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. However, they are applicable to sale of tickets for any cultural event, sports and music concerts at public places.

According to the rules, organisers should give prior intimation to the police on the date and place of ticket sale; 50 per cent of the tickets should be sold at counters; tickets should be sold through only authorised representatives and their names should be furnished to police. The rules also stipulate that not more than five tickets should be sold to a person and not more than 50 per cent of tickets should be sold to organisations. Wide publicity should be given in the media on the sale of tickets.