The Kerala Bottled Water Manufacturers’ Association (KBWA) has questioned the Groundwater Department’s directive to bottled water manufacturers to cut production by 50 per cent.
The Groundwater Department’s fiat was based on a recommendation by the Disaster Management Department.
“It’s not the right thing to do,” M.E. Mohamed, president, KBWA, said in a statement issued here.
According to him, the State is facing a drought and people are struggling for potable water. In such a situation, it is not right on the part of Groundwater Department to insist on a production cut, he said.
“It will add to drinking water scarcity. Such a situation could be exploited by unscrupulous players to hike the price of bottled water,” he cautioned.
The Groundwater Department order, according to him, will badly hit the flat dwellers of Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode, who largely depend on bottled water.
The association also reiterated that its members were still selling bottled waters at Rs 15 a litre and the price of bottled water in the State has not been revised.
“We don’t want the consumers to pay more or get cheated. They should know that there’s not been any price increase,” he said.