 "Online petition against PepsiCo's Tirunelveli plant attracts supporters")
The petition, filed by an individual, has alleged that the company has been given license to use 1.5 million litres of water every day from the river for a period of 99 years and this would make the land unusable and affect the livelihood of the farmers.
It says that the Government of Tamil Nadu has given license to PepsiCo to setup a factory in Gangaikondan SIPCOT in Tirunelveli district for soft drinks manufacturing, while already another softdrinks giant is located in the same industrial area, taking around 10 lakh litres of water from the river.
Read more from our special coverage on "PEPSICO"
An email sent to PepsiCo did not elicit a response.
The petition says that agriculture is the backbone of Tirunelveli district and it will be hugely affected if the company takes out water.
"The river is also the primary source of drinking water for the residents of Tirunelveli district. If PepsiCo uses 1.5 million litres of water every day, the people of Tirunelveli will have to beg other districts for drinking water," it said.
It may be noted that several non government organisations and local people has been conducting protest against the plant in the past.
"So we request you to immediately look into this issue and take steps to stop the setting up of the soft drink plant by the multinational corporate giant PEPSICO and cancel the licenses issued to them by the government," said the online petition addressed to the Chief Justice of India, Chief Justice of Tamil Nadu, Prime Minister of India, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and other ministers.
This measure would save the river from being destroyed and will save millions of farmers, it said.
