Protesting against the delay in reintroducing the Plachimada Coca-Cola Victims Relief and Compensation Claims Special Tribunal Bill in the Assembly, hundreds of victims of groundwater exploitation and pollution caused by the cola major began an indefinite strike in front of the civil station here on Saturday morning.
Most of the victims belong to the Dalit and tribal families of Plachimada and surrounding agrarian villages of Perumatti and Pattanchery grama panchayats.
Leaders of various civil society movements, who addressed the inaugural session, reminded the Left Democratic Front government that reintroduction of the Bill was one of the electoral promises of the front.
Magsaysay-winning water rights activist Rajendra Singh, who inaugurated the protest on the 15th anniversary of the Plachimada agitation, urged Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to ensure justice to the victims of pollution and exploitation of groundwater at Plachimada.
‘Govt. doing nothing’
Tribal activist Kanniyamma, who received a book detailing the politics and relevance of Plachimada struggle, said the government was doing nothing to address the concerns of the region.
Struggle committee chairman Vilayodi Venugopal said the government was backtracking on its promise to re-enact the Bill in such a way that the President’s approval would not be necessary. The promise was given against the backdrop of the Bill being returned by the Union Home Ministry without forwarding it for presidential assent.
“Passed unanimously by the Assembly, the earlier Bill was aimed at ensuring justice to the Plachimada villagers,” said Arumughan Pathichira of the Plachimada Struggle Solidarity Committee. The Bill, the outcome of a protracted people’s struggle, saw the Coca-Cola unit being closed down in 2005.
