After having argued that there was no people�s movement against Coke in Mehdiganj, it was ironic that Kalyan Ranjan, P. R. Manager of Hindustan Coca Cola Ltd., was quite eager to meet with the Mehdiganj community on the first day of their indefinite hunger strike on 23rd of March. But that was not the only irony

Nandlal Prasad and the members of the movement against the bottling plant in Mehdiganj have maintained that they would like Coke officials to meet with the local community and resolve the problems of the community instead of presenting a spin on the problems facing the community.

The first day of the strike had attracted a large part of the Mehdiganj community as well as citizens from nearby villages in solidarity with the strike. The community presented their concerns regarding Coke activities and asked Mr. Ranjan to respond.

They started by pointing out that water levels had fallen since Coke's operations began and questioned what government data Coke constantly referred to when Coke claimed levels had risen. Ranjan presented that they had government data from measurements in 1989, 1991, 1995 and 2000 showing increase in ground water levels. The local community argued that these were data points before Coke's activities and arguing water levels had risen in the 90's was not only fatuous but dishonest.

It is important to note that for the first time in years, the local District Magistrate is really concerned about dropping water levels and has asked for water tankers to distribute water in the area. And yet, there is no concern that the Coke plant continues to withdraw hundreds of thousands of liters of water everyday.

On being pushed, Mr. Ranjan accepted that water levels had fallen but argued that Coke has started two watershed efforts inside their own plant premises in Mehdiganj and in a local college where they estimate recharging 7 million liters of water annually.

�How did this compare to the water they were withdrawing?�, the village demanded. Mr Ranjan conceded that the plant withdrew five hundred thousand liters every day. Thus in two weeks they withdrew the amount of recharging they achieved over a year. Ironic then, that Coke claims to be recharging more than they withdraw. Or just plain hyperbole.

Talking about the issue of pollution, Mr. Ranjan argued that there was no problem of pollution in Mehdiganj. At this, one member of the village after another stood up to speak about the drop in quality of water form their wells and borewells, about the increase in �saltiness� of the water and greater difficulty in washing. Mr Ranjan did not respond to these.

When the community spoke about the commons land that the company had illegally taken over, Mr. Ranjan seemed upset at what he thought were invalid allegations and said that if there was any proof of this, he would ensure that the village commons property was vacated by Coke within 4 days. Immediately, the local community presented the order of the local court with its verdict that the bottling plant in Mehdiganj had illegally occupied land belonging to the village commons and ordered the local administration to have it vacated immediately.

At this Mr. Ranjan argued that it was only a lower court order � is Coca Cola beyond the jurisdiction of a �lower court�? The local community countered that Coke had the money to take every verdict to the supreme court but all Indians have to obey orders of even what Coke termed as �lower courts�

Mr Ranjan argued that Coke had bought 6.25 acres of land from the farmers and even now it only had 6.1 acres. The members of the movement argued that Coke should go and get that land from the farmers it had paid for the land. It could not take over the village common land.

In addition, the local community also queried Mr. Ranjan on the tax evasion issue. Mr. Ranjan argued that it had paid Rupees 14.7 million that it was supposed to pay. The local community countered that 14.7 million paid so far only accounted for the amount it had evaded. The company had yet to pay Rs. 14.7 million it was ordered by the courts to pay as a fine. It has been over two years since the order but the state administration has yet to enforce the order. On the other hand small farmers who owe hundreds of Rupees are being charged.

The public discussion public presented the lies and spins on which Coke has been basing its stance and its advertising. While recharging 7 million liters of water after withdrawing 182.5 million liters of water from the ground, from one single bottling plant, Coke still has the gumption to advertise that it is a company that preserves water.

Mr Ranjan finally asked what the community wants from Coke. The community replied that it wants Coke to stop withdrawing such amounts of water.

The indefinite strike has been on for two weeks now and the strength of the movement keeps rising as people from around India � in fact from around the world including citizens of Denmark, US, UK � keep dropping by, in solidarity.

The lies of Coke were always known to the local communities who have been exploited by the company through processes aimed at externalizing its costs. The public meeting presented these lies to others as well.

compiled by Sanat Mohanty based on an account by Nandlal Prasad, affectionately called Master

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