PALAKKAD: It may be recalled that Pepsi, which was running its unit in Pudussery panchayat with restrictions imposed by the Kerala High Court on use of groundwater, was asked by the State Disaster Management Authority in March 2017 to further cut its production by 75 per cent and limit its consumption of water to 1.5 lakh litres per day due to the severe drought.
“There were already half-a-dozen breweries, including Empee and Amrut Distilleries, functioning in Kanjikode and its suburbs sanctioned by the then LDF Government in 1996. However, an application by Sun Chemicals in 2000 which had purchased seven acres of land for setting up a distillery was turned down by the then LDF Government citing the Vinod Rai (the then Taxes secretary) Committee Report of June 11, 1999 stating that no new distilleries need to be allotted in private sector in Kerala as the demand gap has already been met,” said former INTUC leader R Balan.
Meanwhile, Excise Deputy Commissioner Jacob John said the department has not received any application from Appollo Distilleries. It was a policy decision of the LDF Government. If the applications is forwarded, our officers will go and inspect the site and submit a report to the commissionerate.
Groundwater Department officers told Express the Chittur Block (where borewells have been dug in excess of 100 per cent that is permitted) has been declared as “overexploited” and the Malampuzha block, in which both Pudussery and Elapully villages are located, as a “critical” block, where borewells are drawing water 70 per cent than permitted volume.
As per the Groundwater Department guidelines of April 16, 2018, any application to set up even a one HP motor in an overexploited zone and five HP motor in a critical zone needs to be vetted by the district-level evaluation committee headed by the collector. More than 300 applications are pending before the department for digging borewells in the critical zone as of now, said officers.
Timeline
March, 2000 Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Limited Commences production.
2003 The agitation by the Adivasis under the Coca-Cola Virudha Samara Samithi formed in 2002 intensifies
2004 Coca-Cola unit closes briefly and reopens in 2005 for a few months and later closes permanently
2005 Supreme Court issues notice to the company to allow it to draw five lakh litres of water per day
2011 The Plachimada Coca-Cola Victims Relief and Compensation Claims Special Tribunal Bill 2011 passed unanimously by the Assembly
July, 2017 Coca-Cola makes a submission in the SC that it has no intention to restart operations at Plachimada