50% Of Water Supply To Maharashtra Breweries Cut To Help Marathwada Drought Survivors

Considering the devastating Marathwada drought, the Aurangabad Bench (Bombay High Court) ruled that the state must cut 50% of the water supply to breweries and distilleries in Maharashtra, immediately.

Another 10% cut will be imposed from May 10 this year

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"When people had not seen water for days, it was inhuman that breweries were guzzling the precious resource", said a Bench of Justices S.S. Shinde and Santeetrao Patil said. Last week, the HC had asked the Maharashtra government to recommend a plan to cut at least 50% water supply to liquor and beer manufacturing industries - an increase from the current 30%. The court also attacked the government, asking it why water was not supplied for agriculture, citing the high number of farmer suicides due to water shortages.

People vs revenue - who does the government support?

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Speaking on behalf of a petition by Sanjay Kale, an agriculturist from Ahmednagar district, his lawyer Satish Talekar stated that water is being used by liquor industries in Ahmednagar as the district has ample water. Government pleader Amarjeetsing Girase said the right to access to water is fundamental right and the priority is to use it for drinking purpose. He told the court, "When it comes choosing between water for drinking purpose and liquor, the government will prefer the former. Among humans and revenue, the government will always prefer the former."

The importance of alcohol revenue

The Chamber of Marathada Industries and Agriculture (CMIA) and Marathwada Association of Small Scale Industries and Agriculture (MASSIA) intervened in the petition on Monday by filing a civil application through lawyer Shrikant Advant.

Advant told the court, "It the industries are closed for 40 days as proposed, as many as 3,500 families of the workers of brewery units and 15,000 families of those engaged in related industries will get affected. Beer industries in the region have raked in a revenue of Rs 3,666.3 crore for the state excise department in the 2015-16 financial year, which comes to approximately Rs 300 crore per month. Likewise, VAT of about Rs 150 crore is paid by the beer industry to the state per month. Keeping the industries closed for 40 days will deprive the state of revenue of more than Rs 500 crore."