16 April,2016 08:32 AM IST | | Tanvi Deshpande
Royal Western India Turf Club plans to charge the BCCI for the 60-80,000 litres of treated water it will supply to the board per day for the six IPL 9 matches in the state
After going through the whole IPL water row, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) might be planning to put it behind them but that doesn't seem likely with the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) deciding to add another clause in the deal. The RWITC, which is supposed to supply treated water to the BCCI for the six matches that will be played in Mumbai and Pune before April 30, has decided to put a price tag on it.
Also read: No IPL matches in drought-hit Maharashtra after April 30, rules HC
The RWITC takes a million litres per day from BMC for Rs 10-12 a litre and has not decided how much it will ask for the supply from the BCCI
Though the club has not decided on the price, it has taken the responsibility of supplying 60,000-80,000 litres of water per day to the cricket board to maintain its pitches.
HC speak
The IPL tournament had grabbed more spotlight than the usual when the Bombay High Court, while hearing a petition, recently slammed the BCCI for using water indiscriminately in a drought-hit state. The HC had ruled that all matches after April 30 have to be moved out of the state and the six - three each in Mumbai and Pune - have to use treated water supplied by the RWITC.
Also read: HC asks if BCCI will supply water for drought-hit areas
BMC-RWITC-BCCI
However, this water is not treated by the RWITC. They source it from the BMC's sewaage operations department for R10-12 per litre. "Of the 5.55 million litres of treated water generated every day by the BMC's treatment plans, one million is bought by RWITC. There are direct pipelines from our Banganga plant to the Turf Club. The rate is high because of treatment and administrative costs," said a senior civic official.
The RWITC, thus, believes that of the 10 lakh litres of treated water they take from the BMC, they can spare 60,000-80,000 per day for the cricket grounds after maintaining their turf and lawns.
"We have submitted an undertaking in court. About 6-8 trucks full of water will be provided to the BCCI. It will be their responsibility to have it transported from the club. We will be charging them for it. But we haven't decided how much," said Behram Engineer, secretary of RWITC.
