Notwithstanding the opposition of employees’ unions in the Kerala Water Authority (KWA), the State government has decided to go ahead with the decision to hand over KWA’s bottled drinking water facility at Aruvikkara to the Kerala Irrigation Infrastructure Development Corporation (KIIDC).
Orders were issued on Friday making it clear that the 7,200-litre-per-hour project “shall stand transferred to the KIIDC upon execution of an agreement approved by the government.”
For seven years
The facility is to be leased out to the KIIDC for seven years initially with all attendant assets and liabilities. The KIIDC will be responsible for operating the facility as well marketing the packaged water. KWA and KIIDC managing directors have been directed to execute an agreement within a month so that the facility can commence operations.
Last year, the KWA had decided to call its bottled water brand ‘Thelineer.’
The government observed that it would be unwise to divert KWA personnel and resources to a ‘niche market like bottled water’ when the utility is responsible for carrying out water supply projects worth ₹9,000 crore under Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board, NABARD, Jal Jeevan Mission and the State plan. Also, there lingered the possibility of a drought. “In view of the possible drought likely to visit the State in 2020-21, the KWA needs to focus on drought relief,” the order said adding that at the same time, it is essential that the bottled water plant is operationalised on a war footing as its establishment has already cost the State ₹16 crore.
Pointing out that the KIIDC is a fully owned company under the Water Resources Department, the government has entrusted it the job of procuring the clearances required for the project from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
The order observed that the KIIDC, which markets the Hilly Aqua bottled water brand, has the necessary expertise to correct the design defects reported in the plant. Also, “the expertise of the KIIDC in obtaining the withheld regulatory clearances and floating a cost-effective marketing campaign is found to be far superior from the one to be organised afresh by the KWA or any other agency hired for the purpose,”' the order noted.
KWA unions criticise
Although the government had earlier decided in principle to hand over the plant to KIIDC, the move had drawn criticism from the KWA employees’ unions.
