More than six months after the MoU was signed between State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand ltd (SIIDCUl) and Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Pvt ltd for establishing a Coca Cola bottling plant at Chharba in Dehradun district, the authorities appear to be unclear about the status of the 60 acres land marked for the bottling plant.
This land in Chharba was found to be deemed forest land in a joint inspection by the Forest Department, SIIDCUl and district administration in May this year but the SIIDCUl managing director said that he had not received any such information in writing. The Forest (Conservation) Act is applicable on this land and its utilisation for non-forestry purposes requires the permission of the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
When asked about the status of the land, the SIIDCUl managing director Shailesh Bagauli said that he had not received any information on paper about the site being recognised as deemed forest. “We are not looking for an alternative site for the bottling plant as we have not received anything about the land being deemed forest in writing. The land belonged to the Education Department and was transferred to us,” he said.
However, the Kalsi divisional forest officer Ram Gopal Verma said that earlier this year a joint inspection of the land in question was conducted. “Officials of the Forest Department, SIIDCUl and district administration participated in the joint survey after which the land was categorised as deemed forest. Though the corporation should be aware of this, I will send it in writing to SIIDCUl,” he added.
The team had assessed the departmental plantation records and interviewed many people before concluding that 70,360 trees were planted by the department in the area between 1980 and 1989 and now most of the trees in the area are healthy. With various tree species growing on 51.50 hectare area, this area is considered to be a deemed forest and comes under the purview of Forest (Conservation) Act 1980.
Chharba Gram Pradhan Rumi Ram Jaiswal said that no work had started on the bottling plant. It will be recalled that the decision to allocate land in Chharba for the bottling plant had elicited strong opposition from the villagers, environmentalists, political and social activists.
Those against this venture cite non availability of water, environmental and health problems caused elsewhere in India due to such bottling plants and the existence of a thick growth of trees in the area as factors which make the venture unfeasible. The CM Vijay Bahuguna had welcomed the MoU stating that Rs 600 crore would be invested and about 1,000 people would be employed in the bottling plant. Interestingly, in spite of the importance accorded to this project by the CM, the officials seem unclear about the status of the land marked for the bottling plant.