Following a government directive not to avail of water supply from the Netravathi in the backdrop of severe drinking water shortage in Mangaluru city, Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals Ltd. (MRPL) has initiated partial shutdown of its operations.
In its filing before the Bombay Stock Exchange, MRPL stated that it had initiated partial shutdown of certain units, considering the acute water shortage in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka. The company is also running some units on reduced capacity, without disrupting fuel production and supplies to the extent possible, according to the filing.
The refinery caters to the fuel and LPG requirements of major parts of Karnataka.
Karnataka Minister for Urban Development Vinay Kumar Sorake, who had an emergency meeting with officials here on Monday to discuss the water scarcity issue, directed MRPL, Mangalore SEZ Ltd., and other major industries not to draw water from the Netravathi, with immediate effect.
MRPL and MSEZ used to draw six million gallons per day (MGD) and eight MGD from Shambhoor. Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers gets about two MGD from Mangaluru City Corporation.
MSEZ has MRPL Phase-III, OMPL and Cardolite Speciality Chemicals India under its fold. MRPL had to shut down operations under similar circumstances in April 2012 when the Netravathi had gone dry.
While Netravathi, the lifeline of Dakshina Kannada, has stopped flowing, water level at Thumbe vented dam catering to Mangaluru city has reached alarmingly lower levels. There is dead storage at Shambhoor vented dam, upstream Thumbe, where a mini hydel power plant is functioning.
