Farmers before IPL: Gavaskar

MUMBAI: It is important to put Indian farmers’ interests before those of the IPL franchises, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has said in his column in the Times of India.

His comments come in wake of the Public Interest Litigation filed in the Bombay High Court over IPL games — which require significant water usage on the field and pitch — being held in drought-hit Maharashtra, a state where farmer suicides have been a common tragedy year after year.

“The issue of drought is one such where many lives are at stake,” Gavaskar wrote. “I am no expert on ground and pitch preparation and how much water will be consumed for it, nor do I know whether the water that will be saved if the matches are not played can be used to irrigate the lands that have become dry and parched. What, however, is without any doubt is that it is the farmers of this country that help put our food on the table and if their lives are at stake, then whatever needs to be done must be done to ensure that not even one life is lost.

“The BCCI… will no doubt do what is in the best interest of the nation. There will certainly be losses to the franchises if the games are moved out of their home grounds but, as happened in 2009 and 2014 when the tournament was moved to South Africa and UAE, the franchises will no doubt get compensated.”