IPL 2016: Sachin Tendulkar, PepsiCo to help Maharashtra Government over drought problem

Legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar today had a meeting with Maharashtra Chief Minister (CM) Devendra Fadnavis. According to a tweet by Fadnavis; Tendulkar and PepsiCo will jointly work towards bringing some relief to the drought problem in Marathwada. Maharashtra is today plagued with drought problems in a lot of places and Marathwada is the worst affected of most of the regions. Earlier, Fadnavis had said that his government would not provide potable water for IPL 2016 matches to be played in the state and he has no problem if the venues are shifted. Fadnavis in his tweet also said that he was delighted meeting “Bharat Ratna Sachin Tendulkar”. LIVE CRICKET SCORECARD: Gujarat Lions vs Sunrisers Hyderabad , 15th T20 Match, IPL 2016

Earlier, Fadnavis had cleared his stand over not giving potable water in IPL 2016, “My government has taken strong position in the High Court. We have said that we will not provide potable water for IPL for this season .We don’t have any problem even if IPL is shifted, but no potable water will be provided.”  READ: Sachin Tendulkar joins twitter campaign against Child Labor

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Fadnavis had stressed that they would not allow the IPL organizers to host the matches unless the state would get full assurance of using non-potable water. “It was put forth by the organizers (IPL) that they would use non-portable water. We have said unless we ensure that it is non-potable water we cannot allow. So, we are okay even if it is shifted,” he added. Maharashtra is facing acute shortage of water at the moment, with drought-affected areas getting only 20 liters of water per day.

Delighted to meet Bharat Ratna @sachin_rt .
He & @PepsiCo putting together a plan for drought relief in Marathwada. pic.twitter.com/MgP5sCWjAH

— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) April 21, 2016

A PIL was earlier filed by NGO ‘Loksatta Movement’ in the Bombay High Court against hosting the IPL in Maharashtra, stating that about 66 lakh litres of water was spent on maintaining pitches at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, DY Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai and Sahara stadium in Pune during the 2013 edition.

(With inputs from PTI)