Coca-Cola to resume production at Varanasi bottling plant

National Green Tribunal gives a stay on Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board order that caused closure of the facility

Coca Cola will resume operations at its bottling plant at Mehdiganj near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh following an order from the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday. The NGT has given a stay on the order of the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board that directed the company to close the factory earlier this month.

However, NGT has said that the stay will be effective if the company keeps its production up to 600 bottles per minute. The company will not be able to increase production capacity till it gets a clearance from the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA). Otherwise, the stay will not be effective.

“We welcome today’s ruling of the NGT that stays the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board’s order of closure of the Varanasi Plant. The order reconfirms the company’s conformance to all applicable laws and regulations in course of doing business. Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages remains committed to work with communities and all other stakeholders in the area of ground water replenishment in the best interests of the communities we serve and our business,” Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages said in a statement.

The Mehandiganj plant is a single-line facility and the only glass bottles unit of Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd, the bottling arm of Coca-Cola. Following the oder of the UP Pollution control Board, the company had moved the National Green Tribunal challenging the order. The UP Pollution Control Board had asked to close the plant for various violations, including groundwater extraction, which has caused problems for Coca-Cola earlier as well.

In February last year, villagers from around Mehdiganj, about 25 kms from Varanasi, had asked the government to reject the cola major’s application for expansion citing that it would further worsen the water conditions in the area. Coke’s bottling plant in Mehdiganj, which was operational from 1999, has reportedly caused severe damage on the groundwater resources. Over-exploitation and pollution of groundwater and the soil were the key reasons cited by the activists.

According to media reports, groundwater levels in Mehdiganj have dropped 7.9 meters (26 feet) in the 11 years since Coca-Cola started bottling operations there.

In March 2004, local officials in Kerala shut down a $ 16 million bottling plant of Coca-Cola as it had caused drastic decline in availability and quality of water. In April 2005, Kerala High Court had rejected water use claims, pointing out that wells in Kerala continued to dry up in summer, months after the local Coke bottling unit stopped operations.