As a part of service to the society (read corporate social responsibility), Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd, the largest bottling partner of the Coca-Cola Company in India, will spend Rs 2 crore over five years for integrated watershed projects in Sinnar Taluka, Nashik district (Maharashtra). Around 70 per cent of the total money for the project, which was launched in March 2015, will be spent by May-June of 2017 (first two years of implementation).

The company has tied up with Water Trust Organisation, Sanjeevani Institute of Empowerment and Development and the local community for the project covering three villages in Nashik namely Khaprale, Chandrapur and Jamgaon. The initiative is in line with the Maharashtra government’s Jalyukta Shivar.

The company said the project will help in addressing issues arising from water scarcity for agriculture, high soil erosion, land degradation and enhancing agricultural productivity through watershed treatments, irrigation development and weather specific advisories.

“With regard to water, our mandate is to return to nature an amount of water that is being used in our operation,” a company spokesperson said.

Till date, a total of 46,041 meter farm bunds have been constructed across the three villages, 63 loose boulder structures and 16 Gabion structures have been completed. Further, two new check dams have been constructed, one each in Khaprale and Chandrapur village following repair work of one percolation tank each. An automated weather station has been installed at Chandrapur, which is equidistant from Khaprale and Jamgaon villages.

Nashik is one of the 25 company-owned bottling plants of Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, out of the total of 54 bottling plants Coca-Cola has in India. While nine are co-packing units, the rest are franchise-owned. The company prefers to work in villages around its bottling plants, except for a few exceptions. It is implementing much larger projects in other parts of the country.

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