Maharashtra will lose Rs 100 crore if IPL is shifted out: BCCI secy

A day after chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said he was fine with the IPL moving out of the drought-affected Maharashtra, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur on Saturday warned that doing so will result in a loss of Rs 100 crore to the state.

A day after chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said he was fine with the IPL moving out of the drought-affected Maharashtra, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur on Saturday warned that doing so will result in a loss of Rs 100 crore to the state.

BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur suggested that the money generated from the IPL could be diverted to tackle drought and help people in the affected districts. (PTI Photo)

“Maharashtra will get Rs 100 crore from the IPL. If the matches are shifted out it will be a loss,” Thakur said, adding that the figures are based on a BCCI study done last year.

“We don’t care if the IPL is shifted from Maharashtra this year. No potable (drinking) water will be provided for IPL,” Fadnavis had said on Friday, even as criticism mounted over the huge quantity of water being used for maintaining cricket pitches.

Thakur suggested that the income accrued from the IPL could be diverted to tackle drought and help people in the affected districts.

Read: Watering IPL grounds: If ‘Gol Maal’ logic is okay, why stop at cricket?

He said the BCCI could also consider adopting drought-hit villages, as earlier suggested by another BCCI official Rajiv Shukla, and assured that the board would not use potable water for pitch maintenance.

This year, the BCCI plans to hold around 20 IPL matches in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur, all cities on the verge of water shortage.

Last week, the Bombay high court had suggested shifting IPL matches out of Maharashtra in view of the severe water crisis afflicting many parts of the state.

While it permitted the inaugural IPL match on Saturday in Mumbai, for the remaining matches the court posted a PIL hearing on April 12.