For failing to set up a winery in Himachal Pradesh’s apple heartland for the past decade, the state government has decided to take Mumbai-based Indage Vintners to court and get back the land it had allotted it at Gumma in this district.
An agreement was signed with Indage, a leading Maharashtra-based wine making company, to build a winery at Gumma, 55 km from here. The deal was earlier for a joint venture. This was later changed to a private venture, with 100 per cent equity of Indage.
Local apple juice and grapes were to be the raw material for making the wine. Officials say the company was provided 14 bighas of land to build the plant in two years, but there has been no work at the site for a decade now, despite many reminders.
The government has also asked the company to hand back the allotted land but there has been no response from Indage, say government officials. They say the only structure raised on the land was a 200,000-litre tank and a bottling plant. “We are soon moving the court so that we can get back the land at Gumma,”said Narender Bragta, horticulture minister.
Another 55 bighas was given to Indage at Nagwain in Mandi district for another winery. The progress here has been marginal, too, and a decision is being considered on whether to take legal action, say officials.
Asked to respond, Ranjit Chougule, managing director of the company, said it was undergoing a corporate debt restructuring process, “which governs the entire operations of the company, including the Himachal Pradesh winery”. Adding, “We are unable to express any views on the scheme at this stage...Once the scheme is successfully implemented, all operations will resume, including the Himachal winery.”
The CDR was a sequel to the company’s inability to pay its massive debt, which led to an order of the high court at Mumbai to wind up the company, on petitions by the creditors. At the time, the assets were about Rs 276 crore and the liabilities about Rs 400 crore. Indage had pleaded to be allowed to restructure and settle the debts over a period of time, and this process is on.