C'garh HC allows IPC matches; asks BCCI to provide free water

The Chhattisgarh High Court here today allowed holding of two scheduledmatches of Indian Premier League in the state capital Raipur while asking BCCIand Chhattisgarh State Cricket Sangh (CSCS) to provide free drinking water to spectators.
IPLmatches are scheduled to be held on May 20 and 22 at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium, Raipur.
A division bench of Justices Pritinker Diwaker and Inder Singh Uboweja passed an interim order on two PILsseeking shifting of the IPLmatches from Raipur due to the drought in the state, petitioners' lawyers Rajnish Singh Baghel and Vimlesh Bajpayee said.
"The court observed thatdrinking water would be made available to the spectators and the officials on duty by the event organisers (BCCI and CSCS), not by the state or the municipal corporation.

"This would be absolutely free of cost and at the same time it would also be the duty of the state and organisers to ensure that no untoward incident like loss of life happens during the IPL matches," Bajpayee added.
One of the petitions was filed by Kisan Congress leader Chandrashekhar Shukla and the other by RTI activists Kunal Shukla and Abhishek Pratap Singh.
The state was facing a massive water crisis and 117 tehsils were drought-affected, they said, adding that 70wardsof Raipur Municipal Corporation (RMC) alone were facing water scarcity and it would not be appropriate to use the water forIPLmatches.

Chhattisgarh government had told the HC that neither the state nor its agencies will provide water for the matches.