Maharashtra drought: Water for sugar factories when there's barely a drop to drink

At a time when two-third of Maharashtra is reeling under the worst drought of the century, sugar factories in the state have been happily lifting water from the rivers on the state government's watch. Such lifting of water by Sangamner's Sahakarmaharshi Bhausaheb Thorat Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Ltd in Ahmednagar district has led to outrage among the drought-hit downstream.

This factory has built a major pump house on the bed of the now bone-dry Pravara river (a tributary of the Godavari) with jackwells in the middle of the river channel to suck out water. Water is also being gathered from multiple holes dug in the dry river bed. In addition, the factory uses two major farm ponds, one 25 feet deep and the other about 18 feet deep to store water when it is released in the river. These ponds have huge evaporation losses too. Factory officials themselves gloated on March 28: “The farm ponds will be filled when next drinking water rotation is released. We fill them at every rotation.”

Pond where river water is collected for use by Thorat's factory.

Ahmednagar Collector Anil Kawade insists water is being released only for drinking water purposes. When asked whether he would initiate any action he admitted to finding his hands tied. "Orders for that will have to come from the state government."

What's worse, the factory's defunct-for-three-years treatment plant releases effluents directly into the stream. "So they are not only lifting water from the river but also dirtying what is left with effluents from where it is picked up by farmers," lamented Parineeta Dandekar of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), who wondered why this too was being ignored by both the Ahmednagar collectorate and pollution control authorities.

Jackwell on the Pravara river bed by Balasaheb Thorat's factory.

Congress heavyweight Balasaheb Thorat (erstwhile revenue and agriculture minister of the state) who owns the factory wondered why it was being singled out. "Sugarcane has been grown on two lakh hectares in Marathwada and about a lakh hectares in Solapur. All sugar factories in these regions are also lifting water for crushing, why am I being singled out?"

He also said that once the sugarcane was harvested no one could stop crushing or refuse to give water for the same. "That would lead to massive unrest," he warned and insisted his factory was only picking up minimal water.

The bone dry Pravara river bed. 

Confirming Thorat's figures on the total area under sugarcane cultivation, Dandekar explained how 80% of the cash crop is grown in acutely water-scarce areas. "On an average a factory that can crush about 2,500 tonnes of cane per day (tpcd) needs 25 lakh litres of water per day. Besides co-generation of electricity, which is integrated in most large factories, it needs 2,000 litres of water per MW per day and distillation to make alcohol (primarily ethanol) takes up additional water."

While clearly specifying how Thorat's factory has no co-generation or distillation facilities anymore, she pointed out how Solapur’s Lokmangal sugar factory was also lifting water from the Lower Terna dam despite it having only dead storage water left. Dandekar underlined how water storage in the dams in sugarcane-growing areas has been poor this year because of a deficient monsoon. "Kolhapur, a water-sufficient region, received just 35.8% rainfall. Solapur, with the highest number of sugar factories in the state, got only 193.9 mm of rainfall and Ujani dam, the largest in the Bhima river basin that supports sugarcane crop and its crushing in Solapur, has dead reserves now. Osmanabad and Parbhani have received less than 50% of the average rainfall and their dams are empty."

But wasn't the government considering staying the water-intensive sugarcane crushing after the monsoon failed thrice in the last four years? "Revenue minister Eknath Khadse said in August that the state would consider banning sugarcane crushing in drought-hit areas and protect existing drinking water," remembers Dandekar.

Work on new jackwells being undertaken on the Pravara river bed.

About 164 sugar mills had sought the state's permission to begin crushing. Though the government had said the process will not be permitted in certain parts because of water scarcity, no written orders were sent. A senior official in the Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority (MWRRA) admitted that they too had red-flagged this issue with the state government in early September itself.

"Politically it is not easy taking on the all-powerful sugar lobby in the state. But the government should think of the situation we are staring at through April and May," said a senior official who added, "Hoping for a good monsoon which is still to arrive is like betting. It will be better to conserve what we have now."

Repeated attempts to reach Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan drew a blank.