Rapping the BCCI and the cricket associations in Maharashtra and Mumbai over water wastage when the State is reeling under severe drought, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday said the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches should ideally be shifted elsewhere, where there is no water crisis.
“Only if water supply to the BCCI is cut, you will understand,” the court said. “Ultimately, it is the government’s responsibility to do something about this [water wastage] and impose some kind of restraint.” The court asked the State to spell out on April 7 the steps it plans to take.
“How can you [the cricket associations and the BCCI] waste water like this? People are more important or your IPL matches? You know what the condition is in Maharashtra,” a Division Bench of Justices V.M. Kanade and M.S. Karnik said, hearing a PIL petition filed by Loksatta Movement, a non-governmental organisation. The court on Tuesday sought responses from the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, the Vidarbha Cricket Association, the Maharashtra government and the Mumbai, Nagpur civic bodies.
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