Thiruvananthapuram: Water Resources Minister Mathew T. Thomas has said that stringent measures would be initiated to force the Pepsico plant in Kanjikode to drastically curtail the extraction of groundwater due to the drought in Palakkad. “If need be, we might ask them to shut down operations temporarily,” he told Mr V.S. Achuthanandan in the Assembly on Wednesday.
The latest figures of water use show that the company extracts 1.5 lakh litres of groundwater daily, the minister said. In 2015, it was 5.5 lakh litres, and earlier 6.5 lakh litres. “The company was forced to bring down the extraction after the State Disaster Management Authority ordered recently that companies using water as raw material should reduce the groundwater intake by 75 percent,” Mr Thomas said.
Besides, it was also told to stop operating six of its seven borewells. Pepsico is yet to comply with this order and has gone to court. The over-exploitation of underground water by Pepsico had already taken a toll. “The six domestic wells near the plant have shown a marked decline in water level 1.7 to 1.86 metres over the years. This is a dangerous situation,” he said and added, "we have no choice but to force the company to drastically reduce their groundwater exploitation.”
In 2016, the Assembly sub-committee constituted to look into the issue had asked the company to reduce groundwater extraction to a maximum of 2.34 lakh litres at a time when it was drawing more than 5 lakh litres.
