Hubli-Dharwad parched, but Pepsico gets 2 lakh litres water a day
FollowWhile the entire Hubli-Dharwad district is reeling under water scarcity, locals claim that the water board of the district has been supplying 2 lakh litres of water every day to the Pepsico unit in Dharwad.
The locals of KHB colony of Hubli district complain that they receive water only once in eight days. However, the executive engineer of Karnataka Water Board, CM Mahadeva claims that there is no water scarcity in the district and that the Malaprabha reservoir has enough water to supply till the end of May. “Currently, we are supplying water in tankers to most of the wards in the area. However, I have no information about the proportion of water being supplied to the Pepsico unit,” he said.
It was in 2008 when the Karnataka Water Board entered into an agreement with Pepsico to supply 50 thousand litres of drinking water every day to its Dharwad unit. In 2014, they renewed the agreement and as per the new arrangement the unit receives 2 lakh litres of water every day. According to sources, Pepsico pays only Rs. 23.20 for one lakh litre of water which means the company pays only Rs. 0.0232 per litre.
Even the water level in the Malarprabha dam which has been supplying water to 50 wards in the city has reduced drastically. As of now the dam has 00.84 TMC of water, out of which 00.47 TMS water is usable and the remaining is for dead storage. According to this estimation, even if the water board supplies water once in a week, water can be supplied only till the end of May.
