The State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) has stopped supplying Tamirabarani water to co-packers of PepsiCo and Coca-Cola at its Industrial Growth Centre (IGC) at Gangaikondan in Tirunelveli district since November and 25 other industries in the IGC are also being supplied with only meagre amount of water for drinking purpose, a Government advocate told the Madras High Court Bench here on Monday.
The submission was made before a Division Bench of Justices T.S. Sivagnanam and P. Velmurugan who were seized of a public interest litigation (PIL) petition that sought to forbear the State Government from supplying Tamirabarani river water to any of the industry established in the IGC spread over 1,991.58 acres. C.M. Ragavan, Tirunelveli district convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party, had filed the petition in view of the acute water shortage in the State.
His counsel T. Lajapathi Roy claimed that the government was providing 48,66,700 litres of Tamirabarani surface water every day to the industries established at the IGC. Stating that residents of Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Virudhunagar districts were dependent on the river for drinking water as well as irrigation, he questioned how could the government supply such huge quantity of water to the industries, especially given the failure of the monsoon this year.
Government advocate (civil side) S. Chandrasekar told the court that SIPCOT had stopped supply of water to the co-packers of the cola companies completely since November, and was supplying only negligible quantity of water to other industries in view of the grim situation. When the judges wanted to know how were the industries surviving without water, he said that the firms were purchasing water from private individuals.
Not convinced with the submission, the Bench directed the Public Works Department Secretaryto file separate affidavits by April 27 explaining the status of water supply to the industries in the IGC.
