Chharba unwilling, Coca-Cola scouts for new bottling plant site.

World beverages leader Coca-Cola has decided to look for a site for its proposed bottling plant elsewhere, after opposition on environmental grounds botched the company’s plan in Chharba.

'We have been in discussions with SIDCUL (State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Ltd.) and requested a review of alternative sites in an industrial area with adequate infrastructure facilities already in place and other industries in operation,' a spokesman of the Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Ltd., the Indian arm of Coca-Cola, told Business Standard.

'We have expressed a desire to invest in a greenfield (new) bottling plant in the state and continue our contribution to the economic growth story of the state,' the spokesman said, adding Chharba did not meet the environmental due diligence requirement.

BS