In a shocking finding, another Coca-Cola bottling plant in India has been found to be operating in complete violation of environmental laws and regulations in India. Communities around this plant have begun protests at this discovery.

A fact-finding team led by the India Resource Center to a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Sinhachawar in the state of Uttar Pradesh issued a report today detailing the violations.
 
Specifically, the team found that:

**The plant is indiscriminately dumping its sludge, considered to be industrial hazardous waste, across the plant premises, in complete violation of the laws regarding handling and disposal of industrial hazardous waste in India.

**The Effluent Treatment Plant was non-operational, and the bottling plant was discharging its wastewater into surrounding agricultural fields and a canal that feeds into the river Ganges. 

**The plant did not disclose the amount of hazardous waste being used and generated, as required by the Supreme Court of India for all industrial units in India that deal with hazardous waste. 

The full report with images can be found at http://www.indiares ource.org/ campaigns/ coke/2007/ cokebaliafact. html , in Hindi at http://www.indiares ource.org/ campaigns/ coke/2007/ baliahindireport .pdf
 
Such careless disposal of the sludge and the wastewater results in the pollution of the agricultural lands, local water supplies as well as the food chain.  At stake are the very lives and livelihoods of thousands of people who live around the bottling plant premises, who are primarily farmers.
 
The findings are particularly disturbing because the Coca-Cola company has had ample time to align its operations in India with environmental rules and regulations, and it has been rapped for similar wrongdoings before.
 
In 2003, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of India assessed the sludge at eight Coca-Cola bottling plants, and found them all to contain excessive levels of lead, cadmium or chromium.  As a result, the CPCB ordered the Coca-Cola company in India to treat its waste as industrial hazardous waste, and deal with it accordingly.
 
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) also tested the sludge around the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Plachimada in Kerala in 2003, and found it to be toxic. The Coca-Cola company was distributing the toxic sludge to farmers as ‘fertilizer’, and was ordered by government authorities to stop the practice after the toxicity of the sludge was confirmed.  The BBC report found that the toxins from the sludge had polluted the groundwater.
 
The bottling plant in Sinhachawar is a Coca-Cola franchisee owned unit operated by the Brindavan Bottlers Limited, which is owned by India’s largest bottler of Coca-Cola, the Ladhani Group of Companies.
 
“Our lives have been made much more difficult after the Coca-Cola bottling plant began its operations here,” said Mr. Baliram of the locally based Coca-Cola Bhagao, Krishi Bachao Sangharsh Samiti (Get Rid of Coke, Save Farming Struggle Committee).  “We are demanding that the Coca-Cola plant be shut down immediately and be investigated for any wrongdoing.”
 
The fact finding team, which included twenty residents from the village of Sinhachawar, also heard complaints of illegal land acquisition by the bottling plant as well as the drying up of water wells and hand water pumps since the bottling plant began operations.
 
“The Coca-Cola company is announcing to the world that it is an environmentally responsible company, and it has partnered with UN agencies and NGO’s to paint a pretty green picture of itself.  But all that is corporate social responsibility gone wrong because the reality on the ground is different.  It is littered with toxic waste and a complete disregard and destruction of the way of life as many people in rural India know it,” said Amit Srivastava of the India Resource Center. 
 
“Coca-Cola’s track record in India is indicative of an arrogant company that operates with impunity,” said Srivastava.
 
The Coca-Cola company’s operations in India have been challenged by various communities across India who are experiencing severe water shortages as well as polluted water and land as a result of the company’s practices.  The Coca-Cola bottling plant in Plachimada, one of the company’s largest in India, has been shut down since March 2004.
 
The local campaigns to challenge Coca-Cola in India have found tremendous support internationally, and particularly among college and university students in the US, UK and Canada.  Just last week, the prestigious Smith College in the US announced that it will no longer do business with the Coca-Cola company because of concerns in India, ending a five decade relationship with the Coca-Cola company.  Over twenty colleges and universities have taken similar actions.
 
The Central Pollution Control Board has been asked to investigate the pollution at the Sinhachawar bottling plant immediately, and other agencies dealing with water and land have also been asked to intervene in the matter of the offending Coca-Cola bottling plant in Sinhachawar.
 
The fact finding team has recommended that the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Sinhachawar be shut down immediately to prevent any further damage to the community and the environment.

Government Data Confirms Drop in Groundwater Levels

Data from the Central Ground Water Board of India has confirmed that groundwater levels have dropped in the area since Coca-Cola started operations in the area in 1999. Pre-monsoon groundwater levels have dropped from 6.64 meters in 1999 to 8.34 meters in 2005, a drop of nearly 2 meters in just 6 years. Post monsoon groundwater levels have dropped from 3 meters in 1999 to 9 meters in 2005, a sharp drop of 6 meters in just six years since Coca-Cola began operations.

Contradicting government data, the Coca-Cola company claims that water levels have somehow risen in the area.

The area around the Coca-Cola bottling plant has also been declared a "dark zone" by Mr. Hakim Singh, director of the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA). A "dark zone" category implies that groundwater resources are overexploited, and more that 85% of the total recharging of groundwater resources is being extracted. As a result of the "dark zone" status, all new groundwater installations have to be approved by government authorities.

"When people themselves do not have enough water to meet their basic water needs, why should Coca-Cola be allowed to siphon hundreds of thousands of liters of water every day?" said Nandlal Master of Lok Samiti, the primary group spearheading the campaign to close Coca-Cola's bottling plant in Mehdiganj.

"The government must immediately act in the public interest and stop the Coca-Cola bottling plant from extracting groundwater," said Nandlal Master.

The Coca-Cola company extracts about half a million liters of water per day for the Mehdiganj bottling plant.

The Coca-Cola bottling plant in Mehdiganj has also been found to be generating hazardous waste and polluting the water and soil. The Central Pollution Control Board of India tested the sludge at Coca-Cola's bottling plant in Mehdiganj in 2003, and ordered the company to treat its waste as industrial hazardous waste as a result of finding excessive levels of lead, cadmium and chromium. Prior to the CPCB order, the Coca-Cola company was distributing its sludge to farmers in the area as "fertilizer".

A subsequent study by the People's Science Institute and the Hazards Center in October 2006 found that both the water and the soil had been contaminated with heavy metals as a result of Coca-Cola's indiscriminate dumping of its toxic waste.

Communities Protest Against Coca-Cola Plant in India
Following these findings, more than 400 people marched and rallied at the Varanasi District Magistrate's office yesterday demanding that the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Mehdiganj be shut down.

Braving the scorching heat, residents of more than twenty villages arrived in Varanasi to rally and deliver a letter to the District Magistrate, Mrs. Vina Kumari Meena, bringing attention to the growing water shortages in the area and pollution of the groundwater and land - directly as a result of Coca-Cola's bottling operations in Mehdiganj. The letter specifically asks for the closure of the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Mehdiganj.

The rally in front of the District Magistrate's office in Varanasi featured speeches, music, and plays, and was supported by a broad range of groups in Varanasi, including Sajha Sanskriti Manch.

"It is a sad day when the Coca-Cola company announces a US$20 million project to supposedly conserve water around the world, while at the same time destroying the lives and livelihoods of thousands of farmers and their environment in India as a result of their abuse of water resources and pollution," said Amit Srivastava of the India Resource Center.

Referring to the US$20 million project announced by the Coca-Cola company and World Wildlife Fund, on June 5, 2007, Srivastava said, "Not cleaning up their act locally and announcing multi-million projects internationally is an attempt by the Coca-Cola company to paint a green image of itself that it clearly is not. It's greenwash."

For more information, visit www.IndiaResource.org.

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