Kerala Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine on Monday clarified that no permission has been granted to supply water to the private firm that received approval to set up a brewery plant in Palakkad. In response to a written question from Congress MLAs M Vincent, T J Vinod, C R Mahesh and Rahul Mamkoootathil in the Assembly regarding whether the Superintending Engineer of the Kerala Water Authority, Palakkad, had granted permission to supply water to Oasis Company from the Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (KINFRA) water supply project in Palakkad, the minister said that no such permission had been given.
The government granted approval to Oasis Commercial Pvt Ltd to start a brewery plant at Elappully panchayat in Palakkad and it has drawn criticism from the Congress-led UDF opposition as it raised serious allegations of corruption and issues of water scarcity and groundwater exploitation.
The Water Resources Minister stated that the Superintending Engineer had issued a letter from the Palakkad office, indicating that the availability of water could be explored through the industrial water supply project under construction for KINFRA. This was for the company to take part in an Expression of Interest for ethanol production for public-sector oil companies.
KINFRA already supplies 10 MLD of water daily for industrial purposes, and this agreement was made during the tenure of former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in 2015.
"The Water Authority has not made any decision to supply water to the liquor company from the KINFRA water supply project against the government order issued in 2015," the reply stated.
The letter by the Superintending Engineer also mentioned that the possibility of sourcing water from the 10 MLD industrial drinking water project for KINFRA Industrial Park could be examined, the reply added.
Excise Minister M B Rajesh had said that the proposed brewery unit would not lead to water scarcity in the region.
Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
