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CWC venue fails fire check

Mumbai - Mumbai's expensively-refurbished Wankhede Stadium, which will host the Cricket World Cup final, has fallen foul of fire safety rules, the city's fire brigade chief said on Friday.

But Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) joint-secretary Lalchand Rajput insisted that changes required to meet the regulations will be made by the time the venue stages its first group game on March 13.

"They (inspectors) listed a number of items that we need such as fire extinguishers and we will comply," Rajput said.

The ground, renovated over the last two years at a cost of 2.5 billion rupees ($55 million), is due to host two group matches involving New Zealand, Canada and Sri Lanka as well as the final on April 2.

Mumbai Fire Brigade chief Uday Tatkare said earlier on Friday that they would write to the MCA, which owns the stadium, to urge them to "comply with fire safety norms".

"Once they abide by the terms we would again conduct an inspection," he was quoted as saying by the domestic Press Trust of India news agency.

Tatkare was not immediately available for comment when contacted but he said earlier this month that the MCA risked being liable to foot the bill for fire cover themselves should they fail future inspections.

PTI quoted an unnamed fire officer as saying that they found "many loopholes" in the stadium's fire safety conditions, without elaborating.

Late monsoon rains in the city were blamed for a delay in completing the renovation work on the stadium, forcing inspectors from the International Cricket Council governing body to push back a deadline to approve it for play.

Wankhede Stadium is the second World Cup venue in India not to have come up to scratch.

Kolkata's Eden Gardens was stripped of the match between the hosts and England on February 27 after the iconic arena was deemed not fit to host the game.

That match was shifted to Bangalore although the other three matches scheduled for Eden Gardens look set to go ahead.

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