Plachimada's loss

R. KRISHNAKUMAR
in Thiruvananthapuram

In the Kerala High Court, a village panchayat loses its battle for water
with Coca-Cola.

P. VENUGOPAL

At Coca-Cola's plant at Plachimada in Palakkad district.

THE Perumatty village panchayat in Palakkad district of Kerala has lost its legal battle for the right to water with Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Ltd., the soft-drink manufacturer. A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court ruled on April 7 that a "water-based industry, with a huge investment, has [a right] to receive water to quench its thirst without inconveniencing others". It said the panchayat was wrong in rejecting the company's application for renewal of its operational licence before it made "a scientific assessment" about the reasons for the water scarcity experienced in the region. It asked the local body to renew the licence if the company made an application within two weeks from April 7, provided it has the licence issued under the Factories Act and has the clearance from the State Pollution Control Board. The court allowed the company to extract up to five lakh litres of groundwater every day from the 34-acre (13.6 hectare) premises of its bottling plant, its largest unit in India, located at Plachimada in the panchayat, during 2005-06.

Frontline article: Plachimada’s loss

Toxins as manure

R. KRISHNAKUMAR

The sludge distributed by the Coca-Cola plant as manure.

IN July-August 2003, when soft-drink firms across the country were struggling to contain the impact of the discovery of pesticide residues in their products, in Kerala, Coca-Cola came under intense scrutiny for distributing sludge from its bottling unit at Plachimada in Palakkad district containing cadmium and lead to local farmers, making them believe it was manure.
To this day, nobody is sure why a company producing soft-drinks and bottled water should discharge toxic elements that have serious health effects on human beings or whether the waste products would be non-hazardous if and when the company resumes production at its unit in view of the April 7 ruling by a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court.

Frontline article: Toxins as manure

Contacts:
Amit Srivastava, India Resource Center +1 415 336 7584
Jake Brunkard, Swarthmore College +1 570-406-2440
Kristin Purdy, University of Michigan +1 517-980-6374
Ray Rogers, Campaign to Stop Killer Coke +1 917-318-9712

Wilmington, Delaware, US: Students in the United States and the United Kingdom have made significant gains in the international campaign to hold Coca-Cola accountable. Student coalitions on college and university campuses have been focusing efforts to ban the sale of Coca-Cola products on campuses because of Coca-Cola's adverse human rights, labor and environmental practices in Colombia and India.
Thirteen schools have already severed ties with the Coca-Cola company and more are expected to follow in 2005.
The most recent campus to ban the sale of Coca-Cola products is the Union Theological Seminary in Manhattan, New York, a graduate school of theology which trains students to be ministers in the Christian faith.

Students campaign against Coca Cola

April 19, 2005*

*Contacts:*
Amit Srivastava, India Resource Center, US +1 415 336 7584 E:
amit(AT)IndiaResource.org
R. Ajayan, Plachimada Solidarity Committee, India +91 9847142513
Nandlal Master, Lok Samiti, Mehdiganj, India (Hindi only) +91 9839017693

*Wilmington, Delaware, US:* The Coca-Cola company is misleading its shareholders by not reporting serious liabilities the company has incurred in India.

*/Coca-Cola is holding its Annual General Meeting in Wilmington on April 19, 2005, and over a hundred protesters will be speaking, both inside and outside the meeting, to bring attention to Coca-Cola's shortcomings.

/*Coca-Cola's practices in India have come under increasing scrutiny, and have led to a series of indictments and actions by various authorities, including the Parliament of India, the state government of Kerala, the High Court of Rajasthan as well as a committee of the Supreme Court of India.
One of Coca-Cola's largest bottling plants in India remains shut down for over a year now because the local village council has refused to renew the company's license, citing it for over-extraction of water.
Communities living around Coca-Cola's bottling plants across India are experiencing severe water shortages, and the remaining groundwater and the land has been polluted as a result of Coca-Cola's operations in the area. The company has also distributed its toxic waste as fertilizer to farmers around some of its bottling plants. All the allegations made against the Coca-Cola company have been substantiated by various governmental and independent agencies.

Coca Cola Enron