The State Government of Tamilnadu had sold Thamirabarani River, the only perennial river that originates within Tamilnadu to PepsiCo at a lower cost.
The river Thamirabarani originates from the famous Agasthyakoodam peak in Western Ghats. It flows through Tirunelveli and Tuticorin Districts of Tamilnadu and drains into Gulf of Mannar near Punnakkayal in Tuticorin District. While many scholars interpret the meaning as Thamirabarani as Thamiram (copper in Tamil language) and Varuni (stream or river), the river was mentioned in ancient Tamil texts as “Porunai”. Known as the only source of irrigation across the two dried districts throughout all seasons and also for it’s scenic beauty, this river is now sold by Government at INR 37.4 per 1000 liter.
PepsiCo has already started the construction of it’s huge plant (about 36 acres) at GangaiKondan’s SIPCOT (State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu) Area which had been leased by the state government to PepsiCo at a price around INR 36 per Year while the market price in that vicinity is around 15 Crores.
Moreover a deal which grants PepsiCo the permission to use 15 lakh liter per day from Thamirabarani was also signed. This would just result in seriously affecting the life of farmers and public of two districts.
Farmers and few local Political Parties who conducted protests in GangaiKondan were lathicharged and were more than 120 people were arrested including 80 women.
While the issue is getting limelight via Social Media Networks, nothing has been done in Legal Front. It is also to be noted that Coca Cola Company also has it’s plant in GangaiKondan. Local Farmers says that the plant was established despite their protests.
By 2025, nearly 1.8 billion would not have access to safe water and by 2030, almost half of the world population would suffer due to water scarcity. Given this fact, extracting this staggering amount of river water for producing unhygienic soft drink is not justifiable under any circumstances. It’s high time that the Government thinks before taking any irresponsible decisions such as selling RIVER WATER to MultiNational Giants .
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Written by SGA Thomas
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