With drought looming large, food and beverage processing industries in states such as Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh are either shutting down or shifting to places where they can get water, even if it means buying it at exorbitant rates and experiencing a crunch in profit margins. Apart from these states, Gujarat, Bihar, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are also facing a drought like situation in the country.
While in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, several units have shut down their operations either permanently or temporarily or shifted to other places, Orissa, Bihar and Gujarat are battling water cut of two days in a week in industrial zones. The result being those industries who are wanting to keep running find that their input costs are going up considerably and hence end up taxing the end-consumer by effecting a price hike.
In this regard, a senior government officer from department of environment, Government of Maharashtra, confirmed the severity of the situation and spoke about the measures that were being taken: “The country is experiencing drought in several states and to provide water in such areas we have initiated some schemes so that people can avail water. Water-dependent industries are majorly hit by water shortage. Several industries manufacturing beverages are temporarily shut down. Some industries which are in the industrial zones located in the areas where water is scarce have been experiencing water cut for two days in a week. Groundwater is majorly used as a source of water for such industrial uses. We have suggested industries and associations to inculcate several sustainable solutions like rainwater harvesting and we are stressing on zero discharge of effluents ensuring safety of existing water-bodies in the states.”
Yet industry concerns are far from over. Sagar A Kurade, president, All India Food Processors Association (AIFPA), stated, “Certain states in India are going through drought like situation. While many beverage processing companies are dependent on underground water, there are few companies, who source their water from infrastructure provided by state. It is these companies that have been severely affected.”
He further explained, “Some of the beverage manufacturers who are buying water from government water-bodies to avoid shutting their plants will have their profits affected, leading to price rise. Usually, such industries won't change their pricing with an immediate effect but will revise their pricing once they are out of this situation. Prices of these beverage products have not seen a change since Budget was announced stating a rise in the excise duty. It may happen that these beverage manufacturers will raise their prices from the month of July this year.”
Though ruling out an immediate price rise, Kurade observes that the demand in beverage sector is high, “Summer season in India has shown a higher demand for carbonated beverages, juice-based and other beverages and to keep regular supply to the market, the manufacturers are ready to spend on buying water from state governments.”
Meanwhile, throwing light on the situation in Marathwada, the worst-hit region in Maharashtra, Prashant Bumb, an MLA from Aurangabad, pointed out, “Several areas of Marathwada region in the state are suffering from water crisis. We depend on rivers for irrigation and the water below earth's surface for processing requirements. We had recently brought up an initiative regarding development of small food processing units in the region. These units were supposed to manufacture bakery, dairy and snack foods but they now appear in blue due to water resources going scarce day by day.”
He added, though, “Some of the small units had resumed manufacturing beverages like 'lassi' and 'chaas,' other variants of soda like jaljeera and lemon may be hit due to scarcity of water. As of now we do have water in the region, which may last for first half of the month of May. This is with regards to the present consumption rate.”
If beverage processing units are likely to keep running only for a fortnight or so, fruit and vegetables processing units are already facing the worse - shifting units to avoid closure. Bumb explained, “Several fruits and vegetable farmers are now approaching processing facilities which are based in areas where there are ample water resources as the nearby processing facilities are not operational.”
Prof. Deelip More from western zone, AFST(I), echoed Bumb’s opinion. He said, “The beverage processing industries, especially the ones which are sold in glass bottles, require lot of water for washing and cleaning purposes. Other food industries like fruits and vegetable processing units have already shut down operations.”
The crisis in eastern region is no less. Laxmidhar Sahoo, proprietor, Dazzle Beverages, Orissa, said, “Droughts have ruined the situation. Several small operations in the state are already not operational. There are schemes offered by the state of Orissa for industrial manufacturers to buy water from the nearby water-bodies. We supply to several eastern regions of Orissa and southern regions of West Bengal. Several officers have surveyed the situation but stocking water is the only way. Orissa government is also providing industrial water supply to the northern regions of the state through tanker services from West Bengal to the small units.”
Sahoo informed, “Till the situation becomes normal, we have kept our juice manufacturing units closed for now.”
Crisis led agitations and protests
Down south in Tamil Nadu, where a drought like situation is slowly building up, several agitations are on the rise as farmers and NGOs have sent their representations to the state government to stop supply of water to beverage manufacturing industries.
One of the representations, on behalf of the deprived population, has been filed by Dr D A Prabakar, chairman, FEDCOT, with the chief secretary, Tamil Nadu; the district collector, Tirunelveli; the secretary to Government of Tamil Nadu; and other government departments.
Prabakar highlighted how apart from siphoning away the water resources in the state, supplying water to multinationals at minuscule rates, was costing the state dearly. He summed up the situation, thus, “It is learned that State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT), under the authority of the chief secretary to Government of Tamil Nadu, is selling nine lakh litre water to Coca-Cola's manufacturing unit and 15 lakh litre of water to PepsiCo's manufacturing unit from the river Thamirabarani at a meagre rate of Rs 0.0375 paise per litre and, respectively, both are established in lease-hold land owned by SIPCOT.”
