Pepsi project to benefit 10,000 in Panipat

Leading food and beverage company, PepsiCo India on Wednesday, announced the completion of its community water initiative at Panipat in Haryana.

PepsiCo India chairman and CEO Sanjeev Chadha said, "As part of performance with purpose agenda, the company has been working closely with the people of Panipat under waste to wealth program by facilitating water availability in locations surrounding the plant and also working closely with farmers to promote sustainable farming."

He said the project has two legs, water recharge structures aimed to improve the water availability for neighboring community and direct seeding of paddy which helps reduce water consumption by one third in paddy cultivation. The projects will benefit nearly 10,000 people in and around Panipat and recharge and save 220 million litre of water. PepsiCo India made its first move with the Panipat community by assessing their needs and designed their water project accordingly, to which the gram panchayat passed a resolution for the smooth progress of the initiative. As a part of the venture, PepsiCo has constructed 4 ponds (water harvesting structures) with induced recharging system that will enhance ground water recharge in three villages—Babarpur, Gudha and Ganjbar.

Chadha said with PepsiCo's initiative of the direct seeding methodology in 2009 alone a total of 4.7 billion litre of water was saved. DSM helps save as much as 30% water in paddy cultivation and also helps reduce cost for the farmers by up to Rs 1,500 per acre. This initiative has been introduced in 75 acre in Panipat and will help save 45 million litre of water. PepsiCo aims to reach out to 200 acre in Panipat, thereby saving close to 180 million litre of water in the next two years.

In 2008, the team of PepsiCo India in collaboration with an NGO ADI initiated mapping the availability of water in and around its manufacturing plant communities.

FinancialExpress