The IPL league has a reason to believe it has been unfairly targeted in being asked to shift 13 games, including the final, out of drought-hit Maharashtra. The Bombay HC’s blanket order moving all games scheduled in May out of the state appears to have been born of perceptions rather than the reality of the quantum of water needed for pitch preparation (about six million litres). It is a judgement that would please the litigants as well as a large section of farmers, but it is doubtful there will be any relief until the monsoon sets in because huge quantities of water cannot be transported to deficient zones like Latur.
While everyone should be particularly careful about conserving water in a time of crisis, the suggestion that treated sewage water from the turf club’s recycling plants in Mumbai and Pune be used was a fair alternative. The cricket board’s cash-rich league might be prosperous enough to get through the revised logistics and to be seen to be socially responsible, but it is a moot point whether others are willing to make such sacrifices when it is clear that water for irrigation and public and personal use has become a major problem.
Equitable water distribution even in times of plenty is a national challenge. Very little has been done about facing droughts apart from hoping for a bountiful monsoon. It is the government’s duty to provide water to its citizens and farmers, not IPL’s.
