Cricket in India completely safe: Home Minister

India's federal Home Minister has declared the Indian Premier League is safe to proceed this year, while saying schedule changes are required to prevent clashes with polling dates during national elections.

"Cricket in India is completely safe,” Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said on Friday, allaying fears the entire 2009 Twenty20 tournament would be delayed or even canceled.

"We'll help in staging the IPL matches, even though redrawing of the scheduling appears unavoidable," independent New Delhi Television quoted Chidambaram as saying.

Chidambaram had said earlier in the week that the IPL may need to be postponed from its April-May schedule to avoid overstretching security personnel during the concurrent elections.

The IPL will be staged from April 10-May 24 in eight Indian cities, while the elections for the Indian parliament's lower house will be staged across the country in five different phases between April 16 and May 13.
IPL organizers tried to avoid a delay by saying Thursday that they would not need national paramilitaries to provide security, and could get by with local police forces in the host cities.

They were eager to avoid a postponement, as it would be difficult to find another window in the crowded cricket calendar in which both Indian and international players would be available.

IPL officials were holding a meeting in Mumbai on Friday, with a further announcement on the 2009 tournament expected.