BCCI willing to increase Vengsarkar's daily allowance

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NEW DELHI, December 8: Finally, there is some good news for Dilip Vengsarkar, the chairman of the selection committee. In order to compensate him for not writing newspaper columns, the BCCI is considering increasing his daily allowance by a few thousand rupees. BCCI sources, however, made it clear that Vengsarkar's demand for a lump sum amount as compensation would not be granted. BCCI sources say that the finance committee of the board is going to meet on December 14 to decide on this issue. Incidentally, on the same day, Vengsarkar is scheduled to meet BCCI boss Sharad Pawar. "Right now, each selector is paid Rs 5,000 per day. But since money has become an issue with Vengsarkar, we are going to increase the daily allowance of the selectors and that will be decided in the finance committee meeting in Mumbai," a top BCCI official told TOI on Saturday. The big question is: Will Vengsarkar agree to such a proposal? "The meeting between Vengsarkar and Pawar is going to decide everything," the source added. Does this mean that Vengsarkar will have to wait till September 2008 for his turn to get a salary? Well, there is some bad news for the former Indian skipper. "After Vengsarkar dashed off a letter to the BCCI president, many officials are unhappy with his conduct and even if he survives this storm, it will be difficult for him to get an extension after he completes his two-year term next year,'' an official said. A lot of drama is in store before the working committee takes a final call on this face-off on December 16 in Mumbai. TOI