Latest round in ding-dong Cola battle in Kerala goes to companies

Kochi, Sep 22 (UNI) The latest round in the ding-dong battle being fought between the beverages MNCs Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola and the Kerala authorities for the past four years goes to the cola majors.

A division bench of the Kerala high court today set aside the LDF government's order of August ten banning the manufacture and sale of Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola in the state.

The state government took the decision in the wake of the report by the Delhi-based NGO, Centre for Science and Environment, which said that there were excessive pesticide residues in the soft drinks.

Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Ltd. and Pepsico India Holding Ltd., in separate petitions, had moved the Kerala high court against the ban.

The latest court battle cropped up even as a special leave petition filed by the Kerala Government last year against a high court judgement allowing Coca-Cola to draw 500,000 litres of groundwater at its Plachimada bottling plant is pending in the Supreme Court.

In an ironic twist of events, the Left Democratic Front (LDF), which had given a red carpet welcome to the Cola majors to set up their bottling plants in Kerala in 1999, led the charge against the two companies while it was in the opposition for the past five years.

Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan, then the Leader of the Opposition, staunchly supported an agitation launched by the Plachimada residents in 2002 for the closure of the Coca-Cola plant for allegedly depleting and contaminating the groundwater in the area.

The controversy had hit international headlines as a village community was seen taking head on a multinational corporation for the conservation of its natural resources.

The Perumatty panchayat, under which Plachimada falls, refused to renew the license of the bottling plant in April 2003, stating that it was depriving local people of drinking water by overdrawing underground water.

When the matter moved to the high court, a division bench directed the Perumatty panchayat to renew the license, subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions, and allowed Coca-Cola to draw 500,000 litres of water for its bottling plant.

The Kerala Government then moved the Supreme Court against the high court order, contending that underground water belonged to the public and its excessive withdrawal was creating scarcity of drinking water. The panchayat was well within its right to revoke the license in these conditions, it added.

While this issue still hangs fire in the apex court, demands were raised today by the Plachimada residents that the state government move the Supreme Court against the revocation of the ban.

UNI ARC DK1230