Contending that holding Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket matches in March/April under floodlight would result in power shortage and prove detrimental to the environment, a public interest petition has been filed in the Supreme Court for a direction to hold the matches only during daytime.
Petitioners Howrah Ganatantrik Nagarik Samity, Subhas Datta and Subhash Chandra Basu submitted that the matches were to be played in various cities between March 12 and April 25 and they would commence at 3 p.m., 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Thus the major portion of the matches would be played during night hours using floodlights.
They said, “in order to cater to the requirements of cricket matches, there will be accelerated power cuts in more and more areas because the deficit is acute during peak hours. It is evident from data of the Central Electricity Authority that shortfall in power supply during peak hours of March and April 2008 was severe than in 2009, when IPL matches were shifted to South Africa.”
Carbon emission
The petition pointed out that India had made a commitment to the international community to reduce its carbon emission intensity by 20 to 25 per cent within 2020.
It was a fact that for one unit of power generated, 0.700 kg of coal was consumed and the same emitted 1.25 to 1.50 k.g. of carbon dioxide in the air.
Besides disruption in power supply, holding of matches during night would cause other types of problems, viz., traffic management at night would become difficult.
Further “the probability of extremists’ attack was more during night hours and there was added difficulty in security arrangements after dusk. If the timing of the matches was rescheduled to day hours, the country, society, environment, security agencies and students would be greatly benefited without causing any discomfort and hardship to the organisers and cricket lovers, the petition said.
