THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government is going all out to rein in the price of bottled drinking water by implementing legislative action and market intervention to bring down the price by 35 per cent.
Food and Civil Supplies Minister P Thilothaman said the first step would be to declare bottled drinking water an essential article. For this, a notification will be issued under the provision of Section 2, Clause A of the Kerala Essential Articles Control Act. The notification will be issued in a few weeks and the government order, fixing the maximum price, will follow.
The prevailing market price of bottled drinking water is `20 per litre. The order will fix the maximum price at `13. However, this will not be applicable for bottled mineral water as its production cost is high.“The notification will state clear definitions of common bottled drinking water and bottled mineral water. This is to prevent manufacturers from cheating consumers by falsely claiming the product as mineral water. Bottled mineral water has to comply with BIS standards,” said an official from the department.
“The average production cost of common bottled drinking water is `6 per litre and manufacturers supply it at `8. The retailers are now making an exorbitant margin of `12 per litre,” he added.On the market intervention front, ration shops in the state will sell bottled drinking water at `11 a litre. Supplyco, which already conducts sales at the same price, will be the supplier to PDS outlets. One PDS shop from 77 taluks each will be selected in the first phase. Later, it will be expanded to the remaining 14,300-odd ration shops.
This is the first time the state government is declaring a commodity as an essential article to rein in its price. Earlier, selected food products were declared essential for a short period during the Sabarimala pilgrimage season. Kerala Bottled Water Manufacturers Association had also sought government intervention regarding price control.