After Coke, Palakkad now wants PepsiCo to shut its plant due to water crisis

KOCHI:After Coca-Cola, it now seems to be the turn of another multinational giant PepsiCo to face the ire of locals in Palakkad district of Kerala.
Taking into account the severe water shortage in the region, the Pudussery panchayat has issued notice to the PepsiCo India plant located within its limits to stop operation for some months till the water situation gets better.

The panchayat had issued a notice a few days ago which did not elicit a response from the company.The panchayat then held a meeting on Tuesday and adopted a resolution on the overexploitation of ground water by the plant. “The resolution was adopted unanimously and we decided to issue another notice to the company asking it to stop overexploitation of water,“ said K Unnikrishnan, Pudus sery panchayat sery panchayat president.

However, Pepsi Co India said it had not received any show-cause notice. “We conti nue to honour the high court guidelines of withdrawing 600 KLD. PepsiCo is a lawabiding corporate citizen and we comply with all applicable laws, regulations, wherever we operate or work,“ said PepsiCo India spokesperson.

The issue is not a new one. The problem of water exploitation had cropped up many years ago. “The subject committee appointed by the state government recommended extraction of a maximum of 2.34 lakh litres a day after a study, when the company was drawing around 6 lakh litres. The company challenged the committee findings and the high court ruled in favour of the company,“ said aexecutive in the district office of Kerala State Ground Water Department.

Another expert committee constituted in 2011 also recommended the limit of 2.34 lakh litres. That report is still pending before the high court.

“The PepsiCo unit is extracting water through its seven borewells.We take reading every month. The company is able to extract around 6 lakh litres as per the court ruling,'' the executive added.