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Hold the water, Coca-Cola told in
India
By Ranjit Devraj
NEW
DELHI - In a harsh blow to Coca-Cola's Indian
subsidiary, a potentially far-reaching court ruling this
week said that the transnational beverage giant may own
the land on which one of its plants in the southern
Kerala state is sited - but not the water it holds.
The Kerala High Court ruled that the groundwater
resources below Coca-Cola's bottling plant at Plachimada
village, home to tribal people, are in fact "property
held in trust". The court directed the company to find
alternate sources of water for its plant within a month.
However, it is not yet clear from where Coca-Cola will
get the water.
But local groups are not still
satisfied with the court's ruling, against which
Coca-Cola said it would be filing an appeal. "The whole
issue is reduced to how much water the Coke plant can
extract from the ground right below the plant in order
to ensure that the factory continues in operation," said
R Bijoy, who leads the National Front for Tribal
Self-rule (NFTS).
Bijoy and the NFTS have been
protesting, not always peacefully, for the closure of
the Coca-Cola plant and compensation for local
residents. They also want the restoration of the
environment in and around the 16-hectare plot to the
original state before bottling operations began in 2000.
"The issue is about criminal liability, ecological
accountability and the impact of the plant on health,
economy, employment and agriculture," said Bijoy.
One way or another, the court ruling has charged
the atmosphere for the World Water Conference that is
being held at Plachimada in January 2003 - it is being
seen as an Indian version of Cochabamba in Brazil, where
local people struggled and succeeded in thwarting the
commodification of their water resources.
For
605 days now, more than 1,000 households of tribal and
dalit (untouchable caste) people have protested
in front of the Coca-Cola plant's premises, demanding
compensation for depleting water resources and
environmental degradation that they say has been caused
by the company.
Environmentalists say that 1.5
million liters of water are extracted every day through
a number of tubewells installed within its premises.
Coca-Cola division president Sunil Gupta denies these
figures, saying the plant extracts only 300,000 liters
per day and that it had permission from the government
to use up to half a million liters.
But
Tuesday's court order said that the government had no
right to allow a private company to extract large
amounts of water out of the ground because this would
encourage other landowners to mine water, resulting in
the drying up of groundwater resources.
This
verdict is merely another notch on Coca-Cola India's
bedpost of scandal. It has been a rough year filled with
a lot of bad press for the soft drink giant. In August,
the director of the Center for Science and Environment,
Sunita Narain, announced that 12 major cold drink brands
manufactured by Coca-Cola and rival cola company Pepsi
sold in and around Delhi contained a deadly cocktail of
pesticide residues, including potent chemicals which can
cause cancer, damage the nervous and reproductive
systems and reduce bone mineral density. The
announcement ignited outrage around the country,
including on the floor of the Indian parliament. The
non-government organization's findings were, of course,
immediately denounced by Coca-Cola, but in terms of
sales, the damage had already been done.
And the
latest blow to to the company's image came earlier this
month when rumors of a sexual harassment allegation
against one of its senior managers by Sushmita Sen - a
film star and former endorser - circulated throughout
the media. Coca-Cola officials maintain its dispute with
Sen was only with regards to a "celebrity engagement"
contract and not on any sexual harassment issue and that
both parties had reached a mutually agreed settlement.
Meanwhile, in an effort to shine its tarnished
image, Coca-Cola India has formed a special team to
guide the company on various environment-related
matters. The decision to form the India Environment
Council was made in New Delhi this week at the first
meeting of the newly formed India Advisory Board of the
company. Justice B N Kirpal, a former chief justice of
India, has agreed to lead the council as its chairman.
The team's focus will be to help Coca-Cola implement and
maintain it environmental plans and policies.
(Inter Press Service)
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