BJP slams use of water for upkeep of IPL grounds

Leader of the opposition in the legislative council Vinod Tawde has opposed the use of water for the upkeep of cricket grounds for the IPL matches in the wake of the drought in 16 districts of the state.

Leader of the opposition in the legislative council Vinod Tawde has opposed the use of water for the upkeep of cricket grounds for the IPL matches in the wake of the drought in 16 districts of the state. He has claimed that 64.8 lakh litres will be wasted because of the IPL matches scheduled to be played at three stadiums in Pune and Mumbai.

HT Image

Tawde had written a letter to Rajeev Shukla, chief commissioner, IPL, and the managements of Wankhede stadium, Mumbai; DY Patil stadium, Navi Mumbai and Subrata Roy Sahara stadium, Pune, and demanded that they reconsider the matches.

“The maintenance of each cricket ground during the IPL season needs 60,000 litres of water every day. With the season to run for 36 days, water consumption per ground during this period would be 21.6 lakh litres per ground. This is an abominable waste of water in the wake of the acute shortage of the water in the state,” he has said in the letter.

Tawde said he understands the government earns revenue through entertainment tax on the tickets of the match, but the water is more important than the tax.

“The water, which will be wasted during the matches, is far more valuable than the tax to be accumulated. The matches serve no purpose other than entertainment which is not important when nearly half the state is struggling to survive,” he said.

The state earns nearly Rs. 25 crore from the entertainment duty levied on the sale of tickets of the limited over matches including IPL.