No Water For Pepsi, Coke Bottling Plants In Tamil Nadu Orders High Court
Madras High Court stops water to Pepsi, Coca-Cola plants in Tamil Nadu for two months
The Madras High Court has temporarily stopped the supply of water to the bottling plants of cola companies PepsiCo and Coca-Cola in Gangaikondan in Tamil Nadu.
The court issued an interim injunction on November 21 barring water from the river Thamirabarani from being diverted to the production of soft drinks and mineral water for a period of eight weeks as the state is currently suffering a severe water shortage.
Consumer welfare organisation The Federation of Consumer Organisations - Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, had filed a petition in the Madras High Court to stop both companies from sourcing water from the river due to scarcity of water for drinking and irrigation purposes.
It is the duty of the State as well as this Court to ensure the livelihood and the welfare of the general public, by making these natural resources available to them, instead of diverting the same for commercial purpose.Madras High Court order
The Federation of Consumer Organisations- Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry argued that this year the lack of sufficient water in the dams due to deficient rainfall in the state has caused a severe drinking water shortage and hurt agricultural operations also.
After the injunction was issued, the chairman of the consumer organisation, DA Prabakar also filed a caveat in the Supreme Court against any ex-parte order in favour of PepsiCo and Coca-Cola.
Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are yet to respond to queries from BloombergQuint.