Tendulkar to be felicitated by BMC

Mumbai:

Indian batting icon Sachin Tendulkar, who recently struck a historic 50th Test hundred, will be felicitated by the local civic body here once he returns from the ongoing tour of South Africa.

"The BMC Commissioner Swadhin Kshatriya will request Sachin to provide dates for arranging the felicitation ceremony once he is back in Mumbai. The Municipal Commissioner will soon write a letter to Sachin asking him for his availability. The draft of the letter is ready and awaiting Kshatriya's signature," a civic official said.

Since 2001, several proposals of felicitating the cricket legend have been pending with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) almost for the last 10 years.

"Recently after Sachin scored his 50th Test Century, the Municipal Commissioner sent a message congratulating him and informed him that the BMC wanted to felicitate him. In reply, Sachin said he would give the dates as soon as he returns from his South Africa tour," Additional Municipal Commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar said.

Earlier in 2001, a proposal to felicitate Sachin had come up after he notched up 10,000 runs. This was followed by his record-breaking 35 Test centuries. Then for completing 20 years in international cricket, breaking Sunil Gavaskar's record and then for completing 12,000 runs in One-Dayers.

In February this year, the BMC passed a proposal to felicitate the little master after he became the first in the world to score a double century in a One-Day International.

In the recent past, there were proposals to felicitate eminent personalities including the melody queen Lata Mangeshkar, Indian idol Abhijeet Sawant, late astronaut Kalpana Chawla, former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi and the Oscar-nominated Marathi movie Shwaas team and among others.