RAHIM YAR KHAN: The Rahim Yar Khan District Council has declared Coca Cola Beverages a tax defaulter for Rs744 million in water conservancy charges for using subsoil water, as per a council letter dated Dec 6, 2024.

The letter, addressed to the managing director of Coca Cola in Rahim Yar Khan, states that a notice has been issued under the 2019 notification and the Supreme Court`s ruling in suo moto case No 26. The charges, calculated at Rs1 per litre of subsoil water, were applied from Dec 8, 2018.

The letter says Sub Engineer Jam Bashir was tasked with obtaining meter readings from the factory to calculate the bill. However the company reportedly denied access for meter reading but paid Rs22 million for 62 days of water usage between December 2018 and February 2019. During this period, the company was consuming an average of 357,823 litres of subsoil water daily.

The district council has directed the company to clear the outstanding amount within seven days.

Company officials didn`t answer the calls made to seek their version.