The successful struggle by the people of Chharba village supported by activists and concerned citizens against the setting up of a Coca Cola bottling plant on their Gram Sabha land should be publicised across the State to inspire the people to protest and prevent undesirable exploitation of the State’s natural resources.
This was the view expressed by activists and environmentalists at the release of the book ‘Aur Coca Cola Haar Gaya’ by Pravin Kumar Bhatt. The book details the protest against setting up of the soft drink bottling plan at Chharba in Dehradun district, a plan that was dropped by the State Government after the Uttarakhand High Court ruled earlier this year in a PIl that the ownership of the land marked by the State for the project be reverted to the Gram Sabha.
As a result of the people’s struggle that last about a year, more than 50,000 trees were saved from being axed while the water of the Yamuna slated to be used by the bottling plant was prevented from being put to commercial use.
Speaking on the occasion, environmentalist Suresh Bhai appreciated Chharba residents and the then Gram Pradhan Rumi Ram Jaiswal for their determination to prevent indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources which would have caused considerable pollution and other problems in the area. “We recently saw how the people of Maletha united against the operation of stone crushers detrimental to agriculture in the area with the Chief Minister then ordering closure of the stone crushers. The struggle for preventing indiscriminate exploitation of our natural resources is not yet over. In other such cases in the State, it is upto the people of Chharba to share their experiences with the affected people to motivate them to unite and struggle against projects detrimental to the environment and society,” he said.
The former Gram Pradhan of Chharba thanked the villagers, activists, Bhatt and others for supporting the struggle against establishment of the Coca Cola bottling plant. “The struggle proved politically and financially detrimental to me but we are still ready to struggle against any attempt to destroy the State’s environment and heritage,” said Jaiswal. Poet activist Atul Sharma, Prof Virendra Painuli, Geeta Gairola of Mahila Samakhya and Kamala Pant of Uttarakhand Mahila Manch were also among those present on the occasion.