Indian board announces hike in selectors' allowances

The Indian board has announced a hike in allowances for selectors following Dilip Vengsarkar's threat to resign as chairman of selectors if he wasn't compensated for not writing his newspaper column.

BCCI's Finance Committee met in Delhi and decided to increase the selectors' dearness allowance (DA) from Rs 5000 to Rs 10,000 (US$127 to $254) and raise their travel allowance (TA) from Rs 7000 to Rs 10,000 ($178 to $254). These recommendations are set to be ratified in the Working Committee meeting to be held on December 16.

The BCCI had issued a seven-point diktat to the selectors which included: "The selectors shall not write any column for any newspaper nor shall they appear on any Electronic Media as an expert."

Vengsarkar claimed he would lose Rs 40 lakh if he stopped writing his newspaper column and said he would not accept any of the guidelines issued by the BCCI. The standoff between him and the board was resolved when Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, assured Vengsarkar that he would sort out all his issues after the selection meeting to pick the squad for Australia.

The two, along with President-elect Shashank Manohar, met at Pawar's residence for a meeting which lasted for about half an hour. "It was a very good meeting,"Vengsarkar told PTI. "We discussed a lot of things about Indian cricket and all the other issues. The meeting went very well."Pawar, on his part, sought to downplay the meeting, saying "whenever I am in Mumbai, I meet Vengsarkar".