An organisation that had spearheaded the agitation against the Coca-Cola bottling plant at Plachimada village in Palakkad district has urged the government to initiate legal measures to force the multinational soft drink company to pay compensation to the people of the village affected by the environmental damage the bottling plant had brought to the area.
Memorandum
In a memorandum to Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, the Plachimada Coca-Cola Viruddha Samara Samithi expressed its happiness over the work done by a high-level committee constituted by the government to assess the damage the company had caused in the village by overexploiting the groundwater resources and discharging pollutants into the area.
The leaders of the organisation Vilayodi Venugopal and Indiannoor Gopi, in the memorandum, asked the government to constitute a claims tribunal, as recommended by the high-level committee, to force the company settle the damages. They said the government should constitute the tribunal as early as possible and not delay it till the next session of the Assembly.
They said the high-level committee had also reported that the company had flouted the provisions of the Kerala Land Utilisation Order, Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, Environmental (Protection) Act, Kerala Groundwater (Control and Regulation) Act, Indian Penal Code, Factories Act, Hazardous Waste (Management and Handling) Rules and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
They urged the government to initiate criminal proceedings against the company under these Acts and rules.
