No water! Ballari jeans-making units in trouble

Ballari: The acute water shortage in Ballari this summer has hit its famed jeans industry hard with several manufacturing units shutting down operations.  In huge demand in Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and other states, the Ballari brand of jeans are both cheap and of good quality.

But with little water available to meet their  needs,  the many units here are finding it hard to cater to the  markets. Of the around 60 actively running dyeing units, over 20  have shut down in  recent times owing to shortage of water, reveals Mr Iqbal Sheikh, president, Ballari Garment Processing Union.

“We were assured that water would be provided from the Hagari river as soon as we shifted our units from Andral, Guggaratti and the airport area. But the officials have failed to live up to their promise," he deplores.

Around 6,000 litres of water is needed to dye and wash 100 jeans  and around one lakh litres of water is required to run a unit, according to industry sources. One processing unit owner, Raju,  says he has invested around Rs 1 crore in the business, but is afraid he will get nowhere now owing to the water scarcity.

“Nearly 20 dyeing units have shut down of late as spending Rs 5,000 to 7,000 on buying  water from tankers is not economically viable when the cost of other raw material is high and the competition is so keen in the apparel market,” he  adds.
The manufacturers warn that if no permanent solution is found  to supply water to dyeing units, ‘brand Ballari’  could be dented.

Already under pressure owing to rise in the cost of fabric and a setback in exports, the industry is finding it increasingly difficult to meet the challenges before it, they say.