BENGALURU: Sudhakar S Shetty, president of FKCCI, deliberated with various industrial associations in Karnataka and ascertained that the state government should relook into the water tariff hike which the industries are using from dams, reservoirs and from natural sources.
Following an order on May 28 for water drawn from dams and reservoirs, the tariff has been revised by the Karnataka government from previously `3,200 per mcft to `3,00,000 per mcft across industries. For water drawn from natural sources, it has been revised to `1,50,000 per mcft across industries from `1,800 per MCFT earlier.
The jump in cost of water tariff is leading to significant escalation in production costs for industries in the state, particularly those industries where water is an important input like steel, cement and power. This could lead to disruption in production, in turn to unemployment and the impact will be felt by over 52,500 industries in the state that provide direct and indirect employment to more than 20 lakh people.
The water drawn from dams for generation of hydro-electricity could lead to higher power tariffs. This increase in tariff is certain to result in price rise across products, thereby leading to inflation and difficulties for Trade and Business as well as the common man. As a result, Investment in Karnataka could now become unviable, leading to flight of capital.FKCCI requested the State Government to reverse the decision of hike in the tariff and restore the original tariff.