Water crisis hits Ballari’s jeans industry as over 100 units shut temporarily, hundreds left jobless
Ballari: A severe water shortage in Karnataka's Ballari is crippling the region’s jeans industry, leading to the temporary closure of over 100 jeans units and leaving hundreds of workers unemployed. The crisis, which has been ongoing for over a month, has reportedly left the industry in turmoil as many units that are still running are using tanker water, which is expensive.
Ballari, often referred to as the "Jeans Capital" of India, is home to 732 jeans production units, which rely heavily on water-intensive washing processes. The industry association has requested the administration to provide sufficient water to run the units, as reported by The New Indian Express on Tuesday.
All the 732 jeans factories in Ballari depend on fifteen washing units to finish their products. Although water shortages have been a recurring issue every summer for the past decade, no permanent solution has been found, the report added.
The situation has reached a critical point, with many units halting production due to the skyrocketing cost of water. Industry associations have appealed to the local administration for a more reliable water supply, but their repeated requests have largely been ignored by both officials and political leaders.
An owner of one of the units noted that summer started 15 days early this year which exacerbated the situation. “Instead of waiting and paying more money to wash jeans products, some owners have shut their units for four to five months. This has left a large number of people unemployed,” TNIE quoted the owner as saying.
Meanwhile, owners of the jeans washing units are pinning their hopes on the apparel park planned by the Karnataka state government, which is expected to provide a dedicated water pipeline from the Tungabhadra Dam to address the ongoing water shortage.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
