VIJAYAWADA: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has written to the Union Ministries of Power and Environment to “guide” it in developing green stadia as part of its new ‘Go Green’ initiative, its new president Anurag Thakur said on Monday.

“We have earmarked Rs1 billion for our ‘Go Green’ initiative, wherein existing cricket stadia across the country are being converted into green stadia. We have already written to the Central ministers of Power and Environment to guide us in this regard,” Thakur said in a brief inte­r­action with the media.

He spoke after inaugurating two new cricket grounds developed by the Andhra Cricket Association and the Krishna District Cricket Association at Mulapadu village, 25-km from.

“We are putting up solar panels in all stadiums for power generation. We will have rain water harvesting structures in place. We will use sewerage water, treat it and reuse it for the grounds. We will also use LED bulbs to bring in energy efficiency. We will also do an energy audit to make the green stadia,” Thakur elaborated.

Thakur said some state cricket associations like Maharashtra and Karnataka have done well in solar and other environment issues, water treatment or rain water harvesting.

“We have asked those associations also to guide us,” he added.

Asked if some state cricket associations were not living up to expectations, the BCCI chief observed, “See, all fingers are not equal, but everyone has a role to play. Every unit is important to us. A few may have lagged behind...many have done extremely well, many have lived up to the expectations. But then, even in a family, everyone is not equal if you look at the performance.”

“So, I personally feel many learn from others. Andhra Cricket Assoc­iation has set a benchmark. Others can learn from them and do well. We need to set standards and high standards,” Thakur remarked.

Asked about his priorities in terms of building (cricket) infrastructure in the country, Thakur pointed out that no other sports federation or board created such infrastructure as the BCCI did in the last few decades.”

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2016

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