Kerala must realise damages from Coca-Cola: House panel

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:The Assembly Committee on Petitions has called upon the Kerala government to assess the socio-economic damage sustained by the people of Plachimada on account of the operation of the Hindustan Coca-Cola unit there and take steps to realise compensation from the company. In its 11th report tabled in the House on Thursday, the Committee said the main loss sustained by Plachimada arose from Coca-Cola's ‘unjustified' extraction of groundwater that could have been used by several generations in the area. “The Committee understands that the people in the area had sustained economic, social and health-related devastation on account of water pollution, fall in water needed for farming and health-related problems,” the Committee said.

Better water level now : The Committee, which went into questions such as level of water in nearby draw-wells at the time of closure of the company and the change in the level five years later, said the report submitted to it by the Palakkad district unit of the Groundwater Department showed that the water level in the wells in the neighbourhood, which was very low at the time of closure of the company, had improved significantly after the closure. The Committee said that it was informed by officers of the Groundwater Department that a 14-member high power committee constituted by the government had received compensation claims totalling Rs. 203,20,72,410.

Source: The Hindu, Dated: 19.03.2010