In a bid to overcome acute water crisis and cater to huge requirement of water to maintain its stadium outfield, Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) officials are planning to take help from the Geological Survey of India (GSI) to tap underground water and also to collect it from other adjacent sources. Captains of both India and Sri lanka Women’s Cricket team, after playing T-20 match here in the stadium recently, claimed that playing in such an outfield before Word Cup could be dangerous both for the players and for the team itself.
“After February 26, we will try to work out on the possibilities of finding out alternate solution to the problem. We will also try to rope in GSI, which, after doing satellite mapping of the area, will suggest us the measures for tapping groundwater and also to collect it from the adjacent sources,” said Curator of JSCA Stadium SB Singh. Possibilities of water harvesting inside the stadium are also to be explored so that water from the natural drains could be trapped and stored in huge tanks to be used later as per the requirement, he added.
According to Singh, as many as 17 tube wells out of 18 have failed in the last four years leaving one functional having minimal water in it.
The official further added that due to rationing of water in the State Capital, the stadium is not getting water even one day a week against the requirement of at least 3 days a week to maintain the outfield. “The outfield requires at least 1.5 lakh liters of water per day to maintain the grasses on the outfield,” said Singh.
According to the curator, as sand-based outfield has been prepared to provide free flowing of water in case of heavy rains, they are planning to increase content of organic matter to give a boost to the growth of grasses on the outfield.
Due to acute shortage of water in the area, grasses at the outfield have been adversely affected resulting into uneven grasses on the field. “We have not been able to meet the requirement of water in the JSCA Stadium due to which there is shortage of grasses on the outfield,” said JSCA honorary Secretary Rajesh Verma.
Both the Captains of Women’s T-20 teams of India and Sri lanka also claimed that it was not safe to play on such outfield posing a question mark over conducting more international matches at JSCA stadium in future.
“The outfield has really become dangerous…. We have to play world cup later this year… playing in such a field before Word Cup could be dangerous both for the player and for the team itself. At least 3-4 players from both sides have been injured during these one day series,” claimed both the captains of India and Sri lanka women’s T-20 match Mithali Raj and Shashikala Siriwardene.
JSCA officials also asserted that the stadium was undergoing acute water crisis these days due to which it has lost its greenery leaving the outfield a bit uneven leaving it not safe for the players.
“Without water nothing could be done here…. we are getting water supply only for one and a half hours which is not sufficient to maintain such a huge outfield … somehow we have been able to able to save the ground,” said grounds man Basudev.
Apart from the water crisis, the JSCA Stadium also had hit the headlines recently after it was served evacuation notice by the Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC) limited for violating terms and conditions of the lease agreement for the construction of the stadium asking latter to vacate the premises on which the JSCA International Stadium was founded in 2008.