Two of the eight beehives at Cuttack’s Barabati Stadium. (Badrika Nath Das)

Cuttack, Oct. 25: Here is one problem that refuses to buzz off!

As staff at Barabati Stadium starts preparing for the India-Sri Lanka One Day International next month, Orissa Cricket Association is dealing with a sting of a problem — honeybees.

The bees have built numerous hives along the galleries that has posed a dilemma. “From the safety standpoint these bees are dangerous, especially in this part of the arena. When thousands of people would gather to watch a match, if these bees are suddenly agitated then there could be trouble,” said an OCA official. “We want to find someone who could remove them, but we do not wish to exterminate them.”

The exposed honeycombs, numbering more than eight dangling from the linear sections beneath the outer roof beams are unusual as experts pointed out that usually bees do not prefer to have hives out in the open.

But these swarms are not the first infestation, just the latest. The association faced a similar predicament before the India-England ODI in November 2008. A quick visit from bee collectors fixed the hives then. But, a staff assisting the stadium’s caretaker said that they left a little something behind. “They didn’t take the honeycomb out of the stadium, so the bees came back.” The bees have proliferated again on the outer roof of the galleries at the Mahanadi end and produced massive honeycombs, with four times more the population of bees.

Association secretary Asirbad Behera said: “We are already on the lookout for bee wranglers to help evict the insects from the galleries. The work would be completed by mid-November to prevent possible bee invasion during the ODI match.”

The ODI between India and Sri Lanka scheduled for December 21 will be the sixteenth day-night international match to be played in Cuttack.

Pitch invasions by bees are not totally unheard of at the Barabati Stadium where honeycombs have been a part of the gallery structures for some years now.

On January 10, 2007, players and umpires of an Orissa-Assam Ranji Trophy tie were forced to go to the ground with faces down when a swarm of bees made their way to the playing area. Fortunately, no one was injured.