The breweries in water-starved Marathwada region will have to face 50 percent water cut from Wednesday and further 10 percent cut from 10 May, following the directions passed by the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court on Tuesday, as per the report by The Hindu.
People waiting for water tankers in Latur. aajlatur.com
Expressing concern over the dire state of water crisis, a bench of Justices SS Shinde and Santeetrao Patil said that it was inhuman that breweries were enjoying a lavish supply of water, when people had not seen water for days.
Apart from breweries and distilleries, the court has also upped the water cut for other industrial units by 5 percent from the initial 20 percent starting 20 May, says the report.
However, indicating that water cuts may trigger layoffs in the coming days destroying the livelihood of nearly one lakh people, Ashish Garde, president, Chamber of Marathwada Industries and Agriculture (CMIA), was quoted as saying in The Indian Express: “The cut is more symbolic. At the moment, there is no proper plan of even transporting water saved from industries to any surrounding village in dire need. A marginal reduction of 10-20 per cent would have helped industries run smoothly, but such a huge water cut will have a direct impact on production.”
Breweries in Aurangabad, including major brands such as Fosters, Carlsberg and Kingfisher, together require 5.207 mld water, states the report.
The Marathwada Association of Small Scale Industries and Agriculture along with CMIA had on Monday filed a civil application in which they said the water cuts could impact the region’s economy as the breweries in Aurangabad employ about 3,560 people and pay a yearly excise duty of Rs 3,472.76 crore to the state government, with a cumulative production of 382.04 million litres, the report states.
Excerpt from:
Marathwada drought: Bombay HC orders 50% water cuts for breweries in the region
