Tamil Nadu to Coca Cola: Get Out

People in Perundurai SIPCOT complex in Erode district in Tamil Nadu were distributing sweets and cheering last Monday. At a time when most parts in the state were gloomy, courtesy Chennai Super Kings’ defeat against Rajasthan Royals last Sunday, this particular area were happy about their long fought battle that eventually declared them winner.

It’s a victory of the nature, the activists who believe groundwater is limited and the locals who care about their future. As per a news report by The Economic Times, the Tamil Nadu government on Monday cancelled allotment of land for Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd to set up a bottling unit in Perundurai.

The Tamil Nadu government took the decision to cancel the lease agreement, blaming the firm for "not complying with the terms". Sources, however, said mounting pressure from locals forced the government to scrap the project.

The company, however, blamed the government for the inordinate delays in granting pre-requisite approvals for commencing construction and sought refund of the entire money paid for these approvals. In a statement on Tuesday, the beverage company said it could not apply for 'consent to establish' despite sending repeated reminders to SIPCOT. "These inordinate delays, coupled with local activism against the project, could not have been foreseen nor prevented by us. Despite best efforts to address concerns, we could not commence construction and the project cannot be executed," the company’s press brief read.
The financial daily informs, the company was allotted 71.34 acres in the complex in two parcels between June 2013 and January 2014. The lease deed was executed for 17.9 crore for a period of 99 years. According to official sources, the action was taken after the firm replied to a show-cause notice saying there was no "feasibility" of taking up the work now.

The greenfield state-of-the-art bottling plant was proposed at a cost of 500 crore in 2014. In a statement, Coca-Cola said it was committed to invest in TN and looked forward to it. "However, the company has written to the state government that due to unforeseen pressures and delays it will not be able to invest in SIPCOT, Perundurai," it said.

(Image: Reuters)