Sachin Tendulkar, Pepsi to help Maharashtra battle drought

Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and soft drinks giants PepsiCo have come together to jointly help Maharashtra government tackle the acute water crisis in Marathwada. Maharashtra Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis held a meeting with Sachin Tendulkar yesterday and tweeted about the meet.

“Delighted to meet Bharat Ratna Sachin Tendulkar. He and Pepsi are assembling an arrangement for dry season help in Marathwada,” the Maharashtra Chief Minister tweeted after his meeting with the ‘Master Blaster’.

One of the five regions of Maharashtra, Marathwada, which is reeling from its fourth successive bout of drought, is one of the worst affected areas in the state where, according to recent numbers, many important dams of Aurangabad, Beed, Parbhani, Nanded, and Osmanabad are parched and have been left with no water. The drought is so severe that it has triggered a humanitarian crisis as people have begun to migrate from the villages in search of jobs.

The problem has also affected cricket to a great extent. Earlier this month, the drought issue made the Bombay High Court order the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to shift the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches out of Maharashtra after 1 May 2016. The demand for sudden change of venues has surely affected the Board which currently trying to sort out the logistical problems due to the shift.

Moreover, such is the extent of the drought that a PIL has been filed in the Karnataka High Court to move the IPL games out of the neighbouring state of Karnataka as well.

Also, Read – Interview Tabraiz Shamsi: ‘I’m super excited about playing in the IPL’