Elappully brewery: Doubts over KWA consent, Panchayat to move court against govt, pleader refuses to give advice

With the Elappully panchayat toughening its stand against the proposed brewery plant in Palakkad, doubts have been cast over the KWA consent for the project. Assembly records show that the Oasis Commercial Private Ltd, which received a nod from the state government to establish ₹600-crore grain-based distillation and brewery units in Palakkad, approached KWA for consent to receive water as a pre-requisite to participate in the bid and obtained the consent the same day the application was filed.

The KWA's consent letter and the company's original application do not specify the exact quantity of water required for the project. The Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) invited an e-tender on May 15, 2023, seeking EoI for upcoming dedicated Ethanol plants in Kerala. The last date for the submission of the tender was on July 14, 2023. Oasis Vice-President (Operations) A Gopikrishnan submitted a letter to the Superintendent Engineer of the KWA, Palakkad, on June 16, 2023, seeking consent from the KWA to "set up the plant". The companies participating in the EoIs issued by the OMCs to set up Ethanol plants had to submit land and water availability documents as part of the pre-qualification criteria.

Oasis cited in the letter that it has to satisfy two conditions to take part in the e-tender: land availability and water availability. "The first condition is already satisfied and for the water resources we are depending on KWA, KINFRA and other sources. We would be setting up the plant based on the availability of resources only. Hence, we need a consent from the KWA for the project. Based on this consent, we want to bid for the same and plan for the LOI and other investments," the application noted.

The counter petition filed by the company in response to a public interest litigation against the project shows that the water required to run the project will be exclusively taken from artificial lakes containing harvested rainwater. These artificial lakes will be set up in about 5.5 acres of land and the amount set apart for rainwater harvesting is ₹12 crore. Quoting excerpts from the Detailed Project Report (DPR), the company cited that water may be required in the initial stages to construct the plant and office buildings.

"Unforeseen circumstances may arise which demand supplementation of water. It is for this purpose- the construction stage and for supplementing - that we requested the Kerala water authority if water could be spared. The KWA said that it was possible to spare water intended for the project, fully realising that the project would be run using the water collected by rainwater harvesting," the document presented by the company in the High Court shows.

It further said that the company did not approach the groundwater authority since it did not intend to extract groundwater. In September 2025, Revathy Babu, President, Elappully panchayat, sent a letter to the Kerala Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) saying that the sanction by the state government for the project was based on the premise that KWA had given consent for the water required for the project. The president cited an affidavit filed by the KWA and said that the water authority has given only an indication of the possible availability of water after the successful commissioning of the KINFRA water supply scheme.

The actual feasibility of providing water can be determined only after the project is fully completed. Hence, no binding or conclusive consent was given to the project. Thus, the source of water for the proposed industry for which water is required in abundance remains unclear, the president wrote in the letter.

Meanwhile, the panchayat committee passed a resolution in September 2025 to move legally against the government which gave the nod for the brewery plant without consulting with the panchayat. The Secretary, however, said that it wouldn't be proper to file a case against the government whose funds are being used by the local bodies for daily governance. It was then decided to seek a legal opinion from the government pleader. The pleader has stated that he is supposed to protect the government's interests and that giving legal advice would be inappropriate. "We will now take adequate measures to stall the project," said Revathy Babu.