pune officials of the food and drug administration fda have taken action against 12 packaged drinking water plants operating without licences in 2017seven plants in the pune division were shut down four facilities were sealed in solapur and one in kolhapur we have shut down the illegal plants after issuing prohibitory orders the joint commissioner food of fda in the pune division s s sawant saidlicences from the bureau of indian standards bis and the food safety and standards authority of india fssai are essential for running a packaged drinking water plantthere are 810 plants in maharashtra that have requisite licences and the necessary water testing facilities however there are nearly 1700 illegal mineral water bottling plants the president of the maharashtra association of bottled water manufacturers vijaysinh dubbal told toimost illegal plants are located in thane aurangabad nashik nagpur and pune dubbal addedwhile proprietors of standard mineral water processing plants invest around rs 70 lakh on their bottling units owners of illegal plants invest only rs 2 lakh the demand for packaged water is so high a restaurant owner added that it hardly matters whether the bottles are certified or not