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The state government, which has been sitting for the last four years over the company"s request for allotment of 250 acres land at Yadgir in north Karnataka to set up a greenfield bottling plant, has all of a sudden started the process of acquiring land for the company.
The Karnataka government, which has learnt a few lessons after it lost opportunity to host Tata Motors" Nano car project and South Korea's steel major Posco, is now making all out efforts to retain Coca Cola in the state. Last week, The Coca Cola Company offered to invest Rs 1,000 crore each in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
"Coca Cola had shown interest in setting up their new plant at Yadgir. But due to court stay, we could not allot them land immediately and later the company had asked for land at a different location in Mysore. We have now told them to go back to Yadgir as the court has vacated the stay. We want to project Coca Cola as an anchor investor in Yadgir," K Ratna Prabha, additional chief secretary, government of Karnataka said.
She said the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) has started the process of making payment to land owners at Yadgir, which has been notified for industrial development. Yadgir is strategically located in North Karnataka. Hyderabad international airport is just about three hours away from Yadgir.
"Some farmers at Yadgir had gone to the court against the acquisition of their lands for industrial purpose and there was a stay. The stay has been recently vacated at the Gulbarga bench of the Karnataka High Court. We have now restarted the process of land acquisition and complete it within a month," said Chakravarthy Mohan, chief executive officer, KIADB.
The Coca Cola Company"s Indian subsidiary Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd (HCCBPL) had signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Karnataka in 2010 to invest Rs 1,000 crore in three phases to set up a bottling plant with effluent treatment plant at Yadgir.
It has proposed to expand its manufacturing operations by setting up a greenfield facility to manufacture all types of aerated soft drinks, juices and packaged water such as Coca Cola, Sprite, Fanta Orange, Thums Up, Limca, Maaza, Minute Maid, Kinley water and soda.
However, the state government delayed the land allotment following the resistance from a section of the land holders, who went to the court challenging the land acquisition. The government, subsequently, told the HCCBPL to look for an alternative location and offered land at Mysore.
"We have told the company to take land either at Yadgir or Tandya near Mysore. The option is open for them. We have offered them about 50-70 acres near Mysore. Water is also available in abundance there," said M Maheshwar Rao, Commissioner of Industries.
The HCCBPL had also finalized a location at Tandya industrial estate near Mysore and asked for land allotment.
"We have been waiting for four years now and there is no concrete action from the state government. We are ready to set up our plant either at Yadgir or at Mysore. But, the government should give us land with clear title deeds," company sources said.
