Coke seeks 60 acre land for bottling plant in Kumaon

The move follows Coca-Cola's decision to look for an alternative site for bottling plant after facing opposition in Chhabra

Beverage giant Coca-Cola is seeking 60 acres of land at the Sitarganj industrial estate in Uttarakhand's Kumaon region to set up a bottling plant.

"Talks with Coke, which is seeking 60 acres of land at Sitarganj, are at final stage now," said R Rajesh Kumar, managing director of the State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Limited (SIDCUL), which is developing the new 1,700-acre Sitarganj industrial estate.

The move follows Coca-Cola's decision to look for an alternative site for its proposed bottling plant elsewhere, after opposition on environmental grounds which botched up the company's plan in Chharba.

Kumar said senior officials of the beverage company have made a field survey of the Sitarganj area. "The only problem at Sitarganj is of water. But we have told the company that it can take water from nearby rivers such as Sukhi and Begul instead of ground water," Kumar said.

Senior government officials here said the government is positive on the Coke investment proposal at the Sitarganj industrial estate, where it was also offering a slew of sops for mega projects.

Coke had initially planned to invest over Rs 600 crore in the bottling plant at Charba. "We will work out various modalities of the new Sitarganj proposal of Coke as far investment is concerned," said Kumar.

Earlier, a spokesman of the Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverage Limited (HCCBPL), the Indian arm of Coca-Cola, had said it was discussing with SIDCUL and the state government for a review of alternative sites in an industrial area with adequate infrastructure facilities already in place.

Without making any reference to the Chharba controversy where villagers had opposed the Coke plant on environmental grounds, the spokesman said the Chharba site did not meet the environmental requirements of the company.

The Uttarakhand High Court had also asked the state government to return 25 acres of land at Chharba allotted to Coke to the local gram panchayat, which was up in arms against the company for setting up the bottling plant in the area.