LAHORE: Both the teams contesting Pakistan Super League final match in the provincial metropolis will be accorded five-tier security to avert any eventuality, decides the Punjab government.

The provincial cabinet committee on law and order which met here on Monday with Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif in the chair decided to provide the PSL final participants security almost equal to that of heads of states.

The match will be played at Gadhafi Stadium on March 5.

A senior official who attended the meeting, told Dawn that usually the VVIPs were offered three-tier security cover, but for the players and others it would be five-tier during their travel to and from the stadium.

The official said other than match timings, the players would be given “box security” which meant that only those person(s) would be allowed access to them who had been pre-determined and authorised to meet them. The players would be under security rings 24 hours, he added.

The meeting decided that bio-metric identification of all those coming to the stadium to watch the match would be mandatory and no one would be allowed entry without showing his or her Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC).

The spectators would be checked using walk-through gates, metal detectors and sniffers before being allowed entry into the stadium, the official said.

Police and army contingents would be deployed in and around the stadium, while no parking would be allowed within 400 yards of the venue.

The law enforcers have been directed to check bio-data of those residing in the vicinity of the stadium and of their servants as well.

The chief minister appealed to the nation to support the government’s efforts for making the PSL final a success.

He also asked the agencies concerned to ensure the best coordination among themselves to implement the security plan, besides an effective monitoring system.

He said he would daily review the security plan for plugging loopholes, if any.

Meanwhile, the Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) has announced that the provincial capital will be exempted from loadshedding on March 5, while the Gadhafi Stadium will be supplied power from Garden Town and Shadman grids. Besides, arrangements for standby generators will also be made.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2017