The Tamil Nadu industries department has cancelled permission granted to Coca-Cola to set up a beverages plant under the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) following protests from farmers and local people.
An official from the industries department confirmed the department has cancelled the permission. Sources said that the state has cancelled both the land allocation and approval for the facility to be launched by Hindustan Coca Cola Bevegares Pvt Ltd (HCCBPL).
Authorities have said that the company failed to start construction in stipulated six months. Coca Cola officials were not available for a comment.
The company has proposed to set up a state-of-the-art greenfield manufacturing facility at State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd (SIPCOT) Industrial Growth Centre, Perundurai, with an investment of around Rs 500 crore, to manufacture a variety of beverages including juices and packaged drinking water for which 71.3 acre of land has been allotted by SIPCOT.
Residents in and around Perundurai were protesting against the upcoming Rs 500 crore plant fearing that the Plant would use the groundwater and it would deplete groundwater levels. On Thursday around 3,000 shops have brought down the shutters protesting against the plant.
The company earlier said that HCCBPL has no plans to extract ground water at any stage for any use in the operations at Perundurai and intends to take water from SIPCOT to meet the industrial water requirement. No treated water shall be discharged outside the Plant premises and the excess water shall be utilized for “On-land for Irrigation” within the premises.
The people in the surrounding area has been protesting against setting up of the plant and has demanded the Ministry of Environment and the State government to interfere in the issue without delay. They also alleged that the facility would not only be a threat to the ground water resources, but also it would discharge waste, which would affect the environment.
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