With drinking water turning extremely scarce in Kanjikode and surrounding areas, the State government has started efforts to end over-exploitation of water resources in the area by Pepsico India’s bottling plant. The Groundwater Department will prepare a detailed report on the gravity of exploitation by the plant at Pudussery and the government action will be based on it.
Culture Minister A.K. Balan has directed the department to speed up the process following allegations that the government was soft-pedalling the issue. The government is also planning to act tough in the case of two distilleries in the region which also plunder huge amounts of drinking water. According to sources, various government agencies and the CPI(M)-ruled Pudussery Grama Panchayat have apprised the government of the nature of over-exploitation of water by various water guzzling industries.
Many restrictions
Malampuzha block in the State, to which the Pudussery-Kanjikode belt belongs, has severe official restriction on usage of water resources for industrial purpose. The Minister has already promised a local delegation that no over-exploitation by the company would be permitted and that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan himself would directly intereven in the issue over the next week.
The grama panchayat authorities have already issued a notice to the company seeking explanation for “over extraction of groundwater.” The local body alleges that the Pepsico India unit is drawing nearly 6.5 to 15 lakh litres of groundwater a day though it has been given permission to use only 2.4 lakh litres daily.
The company, located in the Wise industrial park surrounded by water-scarce villages, is also accused of operating 10 borewells having over six-inche diameter for drawing groundwater. Though the panchayat had earlier sought the cooperation of the Groundwater Department to conduct a joint inspection, the department had refused to cooperate. Now the government has directed the department to conduct a joint inspection.
Water in tankers
Panchayat members and government officials allege that even government-appointed hydrologists have not been allowed to check the quantity of groundwater sourced by Pepsico. “The company is exploiting groundwater at a time when over 300 borewells of local farmers have turned dry. The panchayat is now depending on tanker lorries for drinking water,” panchayat president K. Unnikrishnan told The Hindu .
The Pepsico plant, in 53 acres, used nearly 48.5 per cent of the available groundwater in the region, he said.
