Bollywood actress Dia Mirza slams BCCI for staging a T20I in Delhi despite hazardous air quality in the city

Delhi air quality has been the talking point in the lead up to the T20I series between India and Bangladesh. The series opener of the three-match contest has been scheduled to be played at the Arun Jaitley (formerly Feroz Shah Kotla) stadium on Sunday. Despite being warned by the environmentalists, the BCCI Chief Sourav Ganguly confirmed that the match will go ahead.

The Bollywood actress Dia Mirza is not at all happy with the decision and has termed it ‘baffling’. She has slammed the BCCI for exposing the players to bad air quality. Delhi’s air quality goes down significantly during the period between October and December due to the various factors like stubble burning, firecrackers and cold weather.

Currently, the Air Quality Index (AQI) in Delhi is showing 412 which comes under the ‘severe’ category under which any outdoor physical activity is advised to avoid. The air quality is also expected to go down in the next few days according to the assessment of Safar pollution monitoring and forecasting unit of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology.

Dia Mirza’s tweet slamming BCCI

Dia Mirza cited the above to slam the BCCI on her official Twitter handle. She also termed it as a complete denial from the cricket board of the consequences of exposing the players to bad air quality. “It is baffling that the @BCCI has decided to go ahead with the T20 match despite the AQI’s severe 412! This complete denial of the hazards of exposing ourselves to pollution is what cripples our ability to seek and implement swift solutions,” she wrote.

Here’s her tweet:

It is baffling that the @BCCI has decided to go ahead with the T20 match despite the AQI’s severe 412! This complete denial of the hazards of exposing ourselves to pollution is what cripples our ability to seek and implement swift solutions. #MyRightToBreathe #BreatheLife pic.twitter.com/lPZNLfTShq

— Dia Mirza (@deespeak) October 31, 2019

Amidst all the uncertainties around the first T20I between India and Bangladesh, the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, on Thursday confirmed that the match will go ahead as planned. The two environmentalists, Jyoti Pande and Ravina Raj Kohli, had written an application to Ganguly requesting to move the match out of the national capital.

“This puts our sportspersons at even greater risk when they play outdoors. Any match played outdoors harms the health and very lives of the players and it is irresponsible to schedule such sporting activities during times of such toxic air quality,” they had written according to the Statesman.

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