Coca-Cola halts India plant

Lucknow: Coca-Cola has temporarily halted operations at a bottling plant in northern India over alleged environmental violations, an ongoing controversy which has dogged its factories in the country.

The beverages giant told AFP it had voluntarily suspended manufacturing at its Dasna plant near New Delhi while the local environmental authority investigates.

Activists say the factory in Uttar Pradesh state contaminates groundwater meant for farmers and pollutes the soil, and that sewage is not properly treated.

"We received a communication from Uttar Pradesh State Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) and submitted a detailed response," Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, which bottles drinks in India for the US giant, said in a statement Thursday.

"To show our commitment to compliance with regulatory norms, we decided to temporarily suspend manufacturing at Dasna plant," it said.

Some 54 plants produce fizzy drinks in India for Coca-Cola, which has eyed expansion in the world´s second-most populous country where income levels are rising.