Now aged 71 years, tribal woman K. Kanniammal treks about eight km a day through difficult terrain to fetch a pot of water for her family before boarding a bus to Palakkad to take part in an indefinite agitation against the corporate plunder of water resources of her village.
She is one of over 600 women of Plachimada who take turn to be part of the indefinite sit-in protest in front of Palakkad Civil Station, which now completes a fortnight.
“As one among the organisers of the protest, my daily presence at the venue is a must. Others are taking turns but conducting the strike about 25 km away from our village involves a lot of personal inconvenience,” said Kanniammal, who was found upset over the continuing neglect on the part of the State government in addressing their demands.
‘Key promise’
“Now there is widespread resentment in Plachimada and the water-scarce surrounding villages against the government apathy with regard to reintroducing Plachimada Coca Cola Victims Relief and Compensation Claims Special Tribunal Bill in the State Assembly. It was one of the key electoral promises of the Left Democratic Front (LDF),” Vilayodi Venugopal, leader of the struggle committee, said.
The Bill, which was passed unanimously by the Assembly in 2011, failed to get the mandatory President’s assent because of objections raised by the Union Home Ministry, claiming it was in conflict with Centre-State relations. The LDF had promised it would reintroduce the Bill removing such conflicts and without necessitating the President’s assent.
“Though the factory remains closed since 2004 because of our resistance, the alarming groundwater depletion caused by it continues to haunt us. Before the bottling plant was opened at Plachimada, we were fully dependent on our wells,” recalls Kanniammal. The unit is accused of alarmingly depleting the groundwater, apart from exploiting and wilfully polluting other natural resources of Plachimada. Most of the victims are from the Scheduled Tribes community Eravalas.
There are about 2,000 residents in Plachimada and their main occupations are agriculture and farm labour. “Apart from making available ₹216 crore in terms of compensation from Coca Cola for crippling life at Perumatty, the Bill had provisions for initiating action against the company for draining groundwater. It also had provisions to prosecute the company’s top executives under the law on prevention of atrocities against Dalits and tribal people. But all major political fronts failed us,” said local activist Neelippara Mariyappan.
It was in 2000 that, the aerated drinks major started its unit at Plachimada. Within two years, the residents were out on the streets protesting against the groundwater exploitation and discharge of toxic waste. The discharge from the company, both liquid and solid (that was supplied to the farmers in the guise of fertiliser) smothered the soil with cadmium and lead.
“The water table fell drastically and the leftover sources became unusable. Even today, the wells in Vijayanagar Colony, Plachimada Colony, Rajunagar, Velur, Madhavamotharpathy, Kochikadu, and Thotichipathy, and surrounding villages have water that tastes sour and are covered with weeds,” Mr. Venugopal said.
