Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO) founder Dr Anil Joshi has questioned whether the State Government considered the sensitivity of the Himalayan region or studied the social, economic and environmental effects of bottling plants already established in India before facilitating the establishment of the bottling plant in Uttarakhand.
"I have seen the disastrous impacts of such a bottling plant at Mehendiganj near Varanasi in UP where the environment has been devastated and people have lost their sources of income. We don't know at what cost the water from Yamuna will be supplied to the company so the relevant documents should be made public. If the Government thinks that bringing Coca Cola is vital for Uttarakhand, then we will welcome it provided 50 per cent share of the company is given to the affected public," he said.
Suresh Bhai of Nadi Bachao Abhiyan has stressed that the people of Uttarakhand need regular supply of clean and free drinking water not Coca Cola.
"The history of such bottling plants in India is stained by the negative impacts they had on water, land, ecology and the livelihoods of the affected public. The chief minister and bureaucrats should not restrict themselves to making decisions while sitting in their office but visit the site, interact with the villagers and understand the ground
situation and public concerns," he stressed.
The State Government is blatantly misleading the people of Uttarakhand, said Dr Nitin Pandey, the chief coordinator of Citizens for Green Doon which has started a signature campaign against the establishment of the bottling plant.
"Work in the plant will mostly be automated so there will be limited employment for locals and that too for menial tasks. In foreign countries such plants harvest rainwater and recycle waste water but here using water from the river in an area already facing water shortage will further deteriorate the situation," he said. Pandey questioned how the government could allow a private enterprise to mine water while adding that axing of thousands of trees for establishing the plant would cause major environmental damage.
Uttarakhand PCC spokesperson Dhirendra Pratap outrightly rejected the environmentalists' claim and said that in stead of appreciating State Government for facilitating investment, they have been raising questions about the investment.
"The so called environmentalists are using false propaganda by quoting wrong facts and figures," he said while appealing the farmers to beware of such environmentalists. "Such activists created a similar situation at Singur in West Bengal when Tata decided to invest there. Ultimately Tata decided to wrap up its industry from West Bengal and the situation is now known to everyone," he added.