Anurag Thakur wants IPL in Maharashtra despite the water scarcity

Anurag Thakur - playing with fire?

For Anurag Thakur, it seems to be a pretty easy choice in choosing between conserving water in a drought affected area and money.

"Maharashtra gains Rs 100 crore from IPL and if the tournament goes out of the state, this will be a loss for the state," Thakur said while acknowledging the fact that the cash-rich tournament has always been dogged by "unwanted controversies" in its nine- year history.

His statement came a day after chief minister of Maharashtra and Thakur’s BJP party colleague Devendra Fadnavis had said he was fine with the IPL moving out of Maharashtra.

Thakur, however, feels that if IPL moves out of Maharashtra, it will result in nothing but a huge loss of Rs 100 crore for the state.

According to Thakur, the figure was based on a study done by the BCCI after the last edition of the IPL.

Fadnavis does not care about IPL

Faced with criticism and PILs in the Bombay High Court over a considerable amount of water usage for pitches, Fadnavis had earlier said: "We do not have any problem if IPL is shifted from Maharashtra this season. No potable water will be provided for IPL this year."

However, the BCCI secretary made it clear that he sees things a differently. For, IPL matches should be allowed in drought-hit Maharashtra. And then, with the huge revenue, the government can arrange for relief. IPL, then, can be better utilised by the Maharashtra government for tackling drought and buying relief for the affected population.

This IPL, Maharashtra would be hosting a total of 18 matches, spread across Pune, Nagpur, and Mumbai.

The BCCI, according to Thakur, is also considering adopting drought-hit villages along with the franchises as an option.

In this regard, the franchises have been asked to prepare a report on what else can be done on the drought-mitigation front.

The three franchises and BCCI will be presenting their case to the Bombay High Court on April 12 during the hearing of PIL on shifting the IPL matches out of the State in the wake of water scarcity.

A city-based NGO has petitioned the court challenging the use of over 60 lakh litres of water to maintain pitches and sought shifting of IPL matches out of the State given the second successive drought it is experiencing.