LAHORE: The commissioner office of the Rawalpindi Division has sent a claim amounting to millions of rupees to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as rent of the Pindi Cricket Stadium, for the period starting from 2007 till to date.

Dawn learnt through reliable sources that though the PCB has not used the stadium for any international match since 2007 because of the drought of international cricket in Pakistan on security grounds, the board has to pay Rs450,000 per month as rent of the Pindi Stadium.

The commissioner office claimed the rent had not been paid since the year 2007.

The sources said the (rent) arrears were prepared by the commissioner office’s assessment committee, which was formed as a result of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the PCB and the commissioner office to resolve the longstanding issue.

It is somehow surprising that the PCB, which has spent millions of rupees on renovating the Pindi Cricket Stadium, is yet to pay monthly rent to the commissioner office.

God knows better who struck the deal from the PCB, apparently not taking into account the interest of the board.

Moreover, the commissioner office is also receiving the rent of shops at the stadium, which for the PCB has become a sort of burden.

An official from the commissioner office on the condition of anonymity told Dawn that the PCB was just unlucky because international cricket contests could not be staged at the Pindi Stadium from 2007 to date, otherwise, he added, the PCB would have earned millions from organising just one international match at the picturesque venue.

It seems that the approach of the commissioner office has compelled the PCB to build its own stadium in Islamabad. Though the PCB got the land for the project from the federal government, the ground-levelling work at the land has not started yet.