No drinking water shortage for fans in Pune on second day of India-New Zealand Test

Pune: After facing difficulties in finding drinking water during the opening day of the second Test between India and New Zealand here, the host state association has made the necessary arrangements on Friday and the fans are no longer complaining.

Around 1 lakh litres of RO water in 20-litre cans have been arranged for the second day’s play on Friday, well distributed among the booths to avoid the lapse on the first day, an official informed PTI.

As many as 3,800 bottles for 20 litre each have been made available for use on the second day as it remains hot and humid on Friday, while another 500 are kept in the stadium’s vicinity for back-up.

Another batch of 700 are also kept elsewhere, in case of requirement at later stages, the official said.

Angry fans had raised slogans against the hosts Maharashtra Cricket Association here on Thursday after finding no water at the booths.

MCA secretary Kamlesh Pisal had tendered apology later in the day on Thursday.

"Our sincere apologies to all the fans for the inconvenience caused. We will ensure things will be alright going forward. We have already addressed the water issue,” he said.

The volunteers and security personnel had swung into action immediately to provide packaged water bottles to the fans from other storage areas, but the distribution of the same took time and that had led to fans being upset.

The issue occurred due to delay in arrival of the vehicle which was transporting water from the plant to the stadium.

Since the ODI World Cup last year, the hosts cricket boards have been arranging free drinking water at stadiums.