CHENNAI: Nearly four years after discontinuing the sale of ‘Amma’ packaged drinking water, priced at Rs 10 per litre, the State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) has decided to reintroduce the bottled water.
This time, however, the supply will not come from the state-run bottling plant at Gummidipoondi in Tiruvallur, which produced the original ‘Amma’ water, but will instead be sourced from private vendors and sold through all 22 depots, sources said.
The Amma water bottle, introduced in 2012, had provided affordable, quality drinking water for long-distance travellers, especially outside Chennai, where concern over counterfeit bottles using fake labels of popular brands flooding bus stands was prevalent.
There is a high demand for packaged drinking water at bus termini. A tender will soon be floated, and the 1-litre bottles will be sold for Rs 10,” an official said.
Currently, passengers at Kalaignar Centenary Bus Terminus (KCBT), Madhavaram Mofussil Bus Terminus (MMBT), and Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT) pay Rs 20-Rs 25 per litre for private brands.
Amma water scheme discontinued in ’21
However, fake bottled water of questionable quality continues to pose risks. These three termini alone handle nearly one lakh commuters on weekdays and up to three lakh during weekends and festivals. Across the state, about 1.6 crore commuters use government buses daily.
A year after KCBT’s inauguration, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) allowed a private company to install an automated dispenser at the terminus, where 500 ml bottles are sold for Rs 6 and one-litre bottles for Rs 10, through UPI payments. The unit sells more than 5,000 litres daily.
The Amma water scheme was discontinued in 2021 after the Gummidipoondi plant, which once produced 90,000 litres a day but had reduced to 40,000 litres by 2019, became inoperative due to declining groundwater levels. At its peak, the water was sold at 306 outlets across TN.
It may be recalled that in August 2022, then Dairy Development Minister S M Nasar announced that Aavin would launch its own bottled water brand using its RO plants. Though a tender was floated in May 2023 to procure one lakh bottles, the plan was later dropped.