Coca Cola to set up bottling plant in north Karnataka

The Karnataka government Friday allotted 250 acres of land at Yadgir in the state's northern region to Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Ltd for setting up a bottling plant at a cost of Rs.1,000 crore and creating about 500 direct jobs.

"The decision to allot the land was taken at a cabinet meeting here after the company's representatives Shukla Wassan and Ashotosh Singh apprised the chief minister (Siddaramaiah) of their investment proposal," a senior official told IANS.

Yadgir is located about 500 km from Bengaluru.

"The chief minister advised the soft drinks major to provide employment also to family members of land losers and local people by giving them skilled training," the official said.

The cabinet, which met here, about 580 km from Bengaluru, approved allotting 150 acres of land to the railways at Yadgir industrial area for setting up a coach factory, which was cleared by former railway minister Mallikarjun Kharge of the previous UPA government.

"The railway ministry has floated a global tender for setting up the passenger and freight coach factory at Yadgir. Construction is expected to commence from March-April," the official said.

Kharge, currently leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, represents Kalburgi (reserved) parliamentary constituency.

The state government also decided to allot 125 acres of land to Bengaluru-based Mphanite Solutions Ltd at Yadgir for setting up a manufacturing facility to produce pet bottles at a cost of Rs.489 crore and provide direct employment to 1,160 people.

"The cabinet has agreed in principle to allot 640 acres of land at Yadgir to a consortium of 53 pharma firms from Telagana and Andhra Pradesh, as they had shown interest to invest Rs.1,297 crore in setting up drug manufacturing facilities, with an employment potential to 10,779 people," the official said.

At a day-long meeting, being held by the ruling Congress government for the second time since it came to power in May 2013, the cabinet cleared investment proposals worth Rs.2,786 crore on 1,015 acres of land in the Yadgir industrial area to create a whopping 12,439 jobs.

As the state government nodal agency, the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board had acquired 3,232 acres of farm lands at Kadechur and Badiyala villages in Yadgir district for industrial and development projects.

"The chief minister directed the district officials to provide power and water to the industrial area for initiating the projects," the official added.