The jeans washing units are located across 64 acres of industrial land just outside the city -- moved away to prevent the city's groundwater from being polluted.
Ballari in Karnataka is not just famous for its heat, but its high grade iron ore. It is also a major centre for producing denim jeans. But the water shortage this year is hitting that industry too.
Denim is practically a cottage industry for Ballari. They are sewn at homes and taken to dedicated washing units. But that requires water, upto 1 lakh litres per day per unit -- an amount not easy to come by during drought.
The jeans washing units are located across 64 acres of industrial land just outside the city -- moved away to prevent the city's groundwater from being polluted. But it is a dry area and some units have had to stop operations because of lack of water.
Iqbal Shaikh, President, Ballari Garments Processing Association, told NDTV: "There is a lot of problem for the factories because of lack of water, 20 units have stopped production. There is no water in the borewells now."
P Moulali, Secretary, Ballari Garments Processing Association, said though the land was cheap, the lack of water but the industry is suffering since there's no water. "The government keeps saying it will help, but discussions are still going on," he added.
Nagaraju from Nandeeshwara Industries, said he was spending thousands of rupees a day on buying water from tankers and private borewells. "It is difficult to pay workers. Our profit is going in buying water - a sum of Rs 3,000 to 4,000 a day," he said.
The government is aware of the problem. B Vittal Raju, deputy director of textile department told NDTV, "On an average, a unit used 1 lakh litres a day. To solve this problem, the district administration is planning to dig borewells in government land to provide water".