
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has categorically stated that there is no going back on the Palakkad brewery project.
“It was sanctioned in line with the government’s liquor policy. The government will encourage investors who come up with similar constructive proposals,” Pinarayi told the assembly on Thursday.
The chief minister was replying to the volley of allegations, including corruption, from the Opposition during the discussion on the governor’s policy address in the House.
“The liquor policy says that new IMFL and beer production units will be encouraged since they would bring revenue to the government and create job opportunities. It also speaks about facilitating extra-neutral alcohol (ENA) production.
The state has 10 distilleries, eight blending units and two breweries. Of these, eight distilleries and two breweries were started under the UDF government,” Pinarayi said. “Were any of those investment proposals accepted through a tendering process. How can investment proposals be sanctioned through tendering?” the CM asked.
Pinarayi said the Palakkad project has an investment of Rs 600 crore. “It will create 650 direct and 2,000 indirect job opportunities. No waste will be discharged out of the unit. A 6 MW power generation unit is also part of the project. Water supply to the park will be from the Kerala Water Authority’s pipeline to the KINFRA park. This pipeline — supplying 8 lakh litres to the park — was installed during the UDF government’s tenure,” Pinarayi said.
“In 2024, 39.55 crore litres of ENA and ethanol were brought to Kerala from other states,” he said.
Won’t affect drinking water availability: CM
“Half of these purchases were from Maharashtra and Karnataka. The cash outflow to other states is over Rs 3,000 crore. An average Rs 10 per litre is spend as transportation charge,” he said.
The CM said the government has given preliminary sanction for the project, and hence, the panchayat was not consulted. “Next approval will be through the single window system under the ease-of-doing business initiative. A representative of the panchayat will be a member of the board which gives this sanction,” he said.
When Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala raised concern over water shortage in the area, the CM said the project will not affect drinking water availability or water supply to farm lands in the region.