Sources from Madurai have stated that the Madras High Court Bench in Madurai on Thursdayhad dismissed a couple of public interest litigation petitions filed against the supply of Tamirabarani river surface water to the industries set up by the co-packers of Pepsi and Coca Cola on 1,991.58 acres at the Industrial Growth Centre (IGC), established by the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT), at Gangaikondan in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu.
It was stated that a Division Bench of Justices A. Selvam and P. Kalaiyarasan also vacated an interim injunction granted by the court in November last, restraining the SIPCOT from supplying water to the two units.
SIPCOT general manager P. Kumaravel Pandian said the government accorded the administrative sanction to the erstwhile Tamil Nadu Corporation for Industrial Infrastructure Development (TACID) on August 4, 1993 to acquire land in Perancheri and Gangaikondan Part-I villages for the establishment of the IGC.
The Prathista Business Solutions said it was utilising the unit at Gangaikondan only to bottle packaged drinking water and not for manufacture of soft drinks. It also stated that its daily consumption was less than 1% of the total water permitted to be drawn by the SIPCOT from the Tamirabarani for the industries at Gangaikondan and Thoothukudi.
