Mumbai:
The Shiv Sena on Friday said it is not opposed to cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar featuring in a 'Save Water' advertisement campaign of the BMC, but against the script of the short film.
"Sachin is a great player and he gave his precious time for the campaign. We are not against him. We are opposed to the way in which the message has been sought to be conveyed," Sena's leader in the civic body Sunil Prabhu said.
"Sachin says he has shifted from taking shower to using a bucketful of water for bathing. How would a common Mumbaikar understand this as only a few of them take shower," he said.
Endorsing Prabhu's view, BJP corporator Yogesh Sagar today said, "In Mumbai 75 per cent of the people don't use shower, how can the message be accepted by common man if Sachin talks about shower."
In the 30-second short film shot recently, the master blaster tells Mumbaikars, "I have stopped using shower while bathing. I use a bucket of water. You should also avoid the shower."
Sena landed in a spot when Prabhu, during the Standing Committee Meeting on Wednesday, had said, "The common man should feature in the film instead of a celebrity."
Clarifying Prabhu's stand, Sagar said, "They (BMC) must include either a school student or house wife or husband to ensure that the message is well understood and accepted by
common man."
In the advertisement, Tendulkar spreads the message of saving water in Hindi and Marathi.
"In Marathi he says --'Paani wachwa, Mumbai jagwa' and in Hindi the message says--'Paani ki raksha Mumbai ki Suraksha," former chief engineer (Water Supply) and popular cricket columnist Dwarkanath Sanzgiri said.
Mumbai's daily water requirement is 4,200 million litres and there is a shortfall of 800 million litres per day.
The residential users are now facing a 15 per cent water cut, while commercial users face 30 per cent water cut daily.