Water crisis: People are more important than IPL, HC tells Maharashtra govt

New Delhi: Lashing out at the Maharashtra government over the wastage of water for maintaning pitches during the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Bombay High Court said that the people were far more important than cricket tournament.

Former journalist Ketan Tirodkar has sought court orders to recover Rs1,000 for each litre of water used to make and maintain cricket pitches for the matches in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Pune during the tournament.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed regarding the same, which also demanded extra charges be levied on IPL organizers to meet the expenses for sending water to crisis-hit areas.

Earlier, IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla ruled out shifting the matches out of Maharashtra due to drought and water scarcity in the state.

There is demand from some quarters that IPL matches should not be played in the state as the preparation of grounds requires huge amounts of water.

A PIL filed in the High Court on Tuesday sought a direction to the IPL Chairman to pay tax on usage of water, claiming that about 60,000 litres of water would be needed every day to maintain the pitches.

Mumbai BJP secretary Vivekananda Gupta too had demanded that IPL matches be shifted out of the state.

The annual T20 extravaganza would kick off on April 9 in Mumbai.