BENGALURU:A number of cricket associations in the country want to replicate the state-of-the-art facilities for better resource utilisation and conservation, put in place at the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) premises.
Last year, the stadium got the distinction of being the only cricket ground in the world to have the 'subair drainage system'. This allows for the ground to be drained off water and dried within a matter of around 10 to 15 minutes ending the possibility of matches having to be called off due to heavy rains.
Speaking on the sidelines of the 'Green Wicket’ programme organised recently, Santosh Menon, assistant secretary, KSCA, says that the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) is extremely keen on having the same system in their home ground, “Sourav Ganguly (president of CAB) has also expressed his interest in installing the same system in their grounds. A few other associations have also inquired with us about the same. Probably, within the next five years, the subair systems will be the norm in all stadia."
As many as 21 cricket associations and 15 sporting associations attended the programme. The premises of the KSCA has been installed with a number of facilities that aim to make it eco-friendly and a low carbon footprint institution since 2013 as part of the Green Wicket project. It was conceived by the German International Development Cooperation (GIZ) -India, an Indo-German Bilateral Development Agency and the state government.
As part of this, the KSCA has a sewage treatment plant of a capacity of 200 kilolitres per day (KLD) installed three years ago. It uses sewage water bought from the BWSSB and converts the same to water the grounds. Earlier it mainly relied on water from tankers and borewells that involved huge costs. As of now the KSCA no longer needs water from outside.
There are also solar panels installed on the stadium's rooftop with a capacity of 400 kilowatt (kw). The power requirement of the entire premises is around 1 megawatt (MW). As of now only 35 percent of the rooftop has solar panels. Once panels are installed in the entire area, 1 MW is easily possible says people involved with the solar power generation initiative.
The stadium also has a rainwater harvesting system and a wet waste plant with a capacity of treating 500 kg of waste per day and a biogas plant for waste to gas conversion. "As of now the four cricket associations in Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Maharasthtra have already replicated all these eco-friendly measures. Others such as the associations from Kerala are also showing a keen interest in doing the same," says P Bineesha, executive director, International Institute of Waste Management, that is implementing the Green Wicket Project.