An Indian woman carrying her child and water cans at a common tap in a residential area in the Maharashtra state capital of Mumbai in this 2015 file photo. The state is reeling under a severe drought. (Photo by AFP)
Church leaders in India want the government to do more than just shift the ongoing cricket matches from drought-hit western Maharashtra state in order to conserve water.
Father Gyanprakash Topno, spokesman of the Indian Catholic bishops' conference told ucanews.com that it is "sad and frustrating" that the government is unable to provide water — basic for human survival — to drought-affected people.
Rather than spending so much water on an extravaganza, it should be given to those in need, he said.
Although cricket is not a national sport, cricket in India is the most popular and most watched of all sports.
The country is host to the popular Indian Premier League that pays millions of dollars to cricketers from around the world to play in this tournament. It started April 9 and scheduled to go on until May 29. Maharashtra was to host 13 of those matches including the final in Mumbai, the state capital.
The Bombay High Court April 13 said, shifting of matches alone won't solve the problem but it can be a beginning so that water used for maintaining cricket grounds can be diverted to affected areas.
A voluntary organization had launched a lawsuit claiming that 60 million liters of water would be needed to maintain the cricket grounds in Maharashtra alone — water that could be otherwise diverted to the drought-hit regions of the state.
Maharashtra is reeling under severe drought conditions. Latur town for example, just 500 kilometers from Mumbai, is receiving water once a month through water tankers and trains with the government barring the gathering of more than 5 people to prevent water riots.
According to data submitted in parliament, over 3,000 farmers committed suicide in the state in 2015 due to failure of crops owing to drought.
"The situation in the state, especially the rural areas, is pathetic because of the drought," Father Nigel Barrett, spokesman for Bombay Archdiocese, told ucanews.com.
Father V. J. Thomas, director of the social service wing of the Jhansi Diocese in the northern Indian Uttar Pradesh, also experiencing drought, called for "more steps like this should be taken so that people at least get drinking water," he said.
India is currently experiencing a heat wave across much of northern India with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius. About 10 of India's 29 states are already in the grip of severe drought, with the seasonal monsoon rains still at least two months away.
