The Bombay high court on Wednesday, ruled only six of nineteen matches slated in Maharashtra to transpire in the state and the organizers will have to relocate the rest from April 30. The pronouncement came after a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) catechized the hosting of matches in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur in the wake of a severe drought in Maharashtra.
The bench said that the claims of the financial liabilities made by the organizers could not overrule the “larger cause of the people”, giving a fortnight’s time to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and franchise teams to make arrangements to shift matches out of the drought scorched state.
The ruling will affect 13 matches, including the final that was to be held in Mumbai. Pune will miss out on six, of which one is the Eliminator and the other one is Qualifier 2, while no games will be played in Nagpur. The state was initially scheduled to host 20 matches.
The court, last week, sought an elucidation from the BCCI and three other state associations as to why water should be wasted on hosting games when the state is battling with one of its worst and unparalleled droughts. The court later permitted the opening match in Mumbai on April 9 and asked the Maharashtra State Government and Mumbai’s civic body, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), to respond on plans of addressing the issue of water shortage.
In its defence, the BCCI told that less water was used for the preparation of the ground in Mumbai as compared to an international fixture. It also affirmed that it intended to use treated sewage water for ground preparation in Mumbai and Pune. The franchises based in Mumbai and Pune – Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiants – also vowed to contribute INR 5 crore to chief Minister’s drought relief fund and supply 40 litres of water to the drought-hit areas at their own cost.
While the BCCI is mulling its next move, IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla affirmed that it is a logical problem for the board to move the matches out of the state. He also fingered to the fact that no objections of this kind were raised when Mumbai and Nagpur hosted World T20 matches last month. He said: “Nobody raised these issues for six months. Whatever was required, we were willing to do. In fact, I would like to point out that a lot many other sports and cultural events are going on in Maharashtra, which also use water and they should also help.”
He further added, “Organizing the IPL is a gigantic work. It’s not easy. All preparation had been done, completed. Now shifting the matches will be a problem. So far, we have not got the written order, after we get that, we will study the order and work out an alternative plan. We always respect the court. We need to talk to other franchises.”
BCCI secretary, Anurag Thakur called it an attempt to create negativity over issues: “We are not using drinking water, we have said that we will use treated sewage water only. How many swimming pools of five-star hotels have been shut? Have people stopped watering their lawns? IPL was to use 0.00038% of water, so that shows the requirement was not much.”
Images: Various agencies
– By Isha Kulkarni
Tags: drought Maharashtra IPL IPL Maharashtra IPL matches moved out of Maharashtra
