Chidambaram prefers Cola to Compensation - Plachimada Saga

Conniving with Cola, Government delayspayment of Compensation

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Chidambaram prefers Cola to Compensation

Organiserof Swadeshi Jagran Manch, South India Sri K V Biju, who is also the Convenor ofthe Plachimada Coca Cola Virudha Samara Samithi and 17 others have began theirfast on 21, December, 2011 in Viyoor jail protesting against the apathy of theState and Central Governments in getting the compensation of Rs. 216.26 croresfrom the multinational giant Coca Cola to the victims. He, Biju alongwith other 17 was released when so many dignitaries came to Jail toconvince the group toabandan fast and furnish bail as the purpose has been fulfilled. Further, the digniaries including ex-State Ministers promised to get all the demants fulfilled at the earliest. So Biju alongwith other 17 is out of jail after remaining there for seven days and again is busy on this topic. It is a big victory of course, but the matter should comein the notice of all



On16th December, around 100 people headed by the Plachimada Anti-Coca ColaAgitation Committee and Plachimada Solidarity Forum “occupied” the premises ofHindustan Coca Cola Beverages Company in Plachimada demanding that early stepsshould be taken to pay the compensation to the victims. 22 activists including Sri K V Biju werearrested. Whenproduced, the Magistrate ordered their release on furnishing personal bond butthe activists refused to take bail condemning the delaying and subvertingtactics of the Governments in favour of Coca Cola.



The local Court has released the activists unconditionally on24th December, 2011. But the prolongedbattle against the Cola has a decade old history that needs a vivid account.



Plachimada, a predominantly Adivasi village in Perumatty Gram Panchayat in Palakkad District,Kerala, had over the last one decade,become synonymous with the fight of the common people against multinationalcorporate’s over-exploitation of natural resources.



Plachimada is an important agricultural region of the Western Ghats andbeing in a rain shadow and drought prone area, it requires large quantities of groundwater for irrigation. The villagers arepredominantly agricultural labourers. The Coca Cola Bottling Plant set up in March, 2000 began drawing overfive-lakh litres of ground water on its premises each day.



Thepeople of Plachimada began to experience severe adversities within six monthsafter the establishment of Coca Cola plant. The availability of ground waterdiminished considerably. Even the available water in the wells and rivers wascontaminated after getting mixed with the toxic waste dumped from the factorywhich contained metals like cadmium, lead, nickel and chromium. The pollution came from the sludge, Coca Cola dumpedin the area surrounding its plant, which the BBC had tested and declared tohave a high content of cadmium and nickel. The Central PollutionControl Board had found the presence of lethal cadmium as high as 333.8 mg/kg,more than six times the permissible limit. Itwas heavily dumped into the agricultural fields making the poor and innocentfarmers of the place believe that the sludge is of high quality manure. Thedisposal of the sludge also affected the general health of the people causingthem skin ailments, breathing problems and other debilities.



The functioning of theplant caused environmental and soil degradation, water contamination due toover-extraction of ground water and leading to scarcity of drinking water, andhence decline in agriculture. As consequences, public health deteriorated andthe agricultural economy was shattered. The plant operations thus caused grossviolation of the villagers' human rights to life, livelihood and apollution-free environment.



Thelocal people started agitating and protesting against the Company within ayear. Several non-governmental organizations and other sections of themainstream society joined them. Sensingthe mood of the people, the Perumatty Panchayatrescinded the license granted to the Company, on August 7th, 2003, and thePlant in the 40 acres of land was shut down. The matter is pending adjudication before the Supreme Court as the Statehas challenged the Kerala High Court’s order quashing the cancellation oflicense.



However,despite the plant closure, the company was not ready to give compensation tothe victims and the struggle was continued demanding compensation. So, the Kerala Government constituted a 14-memberHigh Power Committee in May 2009 to be chaired by its Agriculture ProductionCommissioner to investigatewhether the functioning of Coca Cola has resulted in the alleged violations,and if so, the cost of the damage. The Committee comprised of directors ofvarious departments like agriculture, animal husbandry and groundwater, deansof Kerala Agricultural University, the representative of Kerala State PollutionControl Board, an environmental expert, and a retired judge.



The panel heldeight meetings and conducted a public hearing at Perumatty Panchayat officewhich was attended by the affected people, voluntary workers, concernedcitizens, and the panchayat representatives. It evaluated all the availablereports on Plachimada besides visiting the village and also organizing twopanel discussions with experts. Thefindings of the Committee are :



• The Coca Cola company causedenvironmental degradation through over-extraction of groundwater andirresponsible disposal of sludge. The water sources of the area have beenaffected and the water scarcity has become more acute.
• The company misguided the farmers by passing off the sludge as manure and isresponsible for soil degradation, water contamination, and the consequentagricultural losses.
• There has been a steady decline in the agriculture production in the area andthe production of milk, meat, and eggs has declined.
• Metals like cadmium, lead, and chromium have been detected in the sludge.Skin ailments, breathing problems, and other debilities among the locals havebeen on the rise.
• Low birth-weight in newborns has also been noticed.
• Women have to fetch drinking water from far-off places and this has deprivedthem of their wages.
• Children have dropped out of schools on account of the social, health, andeconomic factors caused by the pollution.
• The gram panchayat has been providing drinking water through tankers eversince the wells and water bodies were rendered useless by the pollution.
• The Coca Cola company is guilty under several laws in force.

The Committee hasassessed the damages caused to be Rs. 216.26 crores, the break-up details ofwhich are as follows :

Agriculturallosses: Rs.84. 16 crores
Health damages: Rs.30. 00 crores
The cost of providing water: Rs.20.00 crores
Wage losses and opportunity cost: Rs.20.00 crores
The cost of polluting resources: Rs.62.10 crores
Total: Rs.216.26 crores

Even though thereare sufficient provisions under the existing laws to claim compensation fromthe company under the ‘polluter pays principle’, the panel felt it desirable toset up a dedicated institution to adjudicate the individual claims. It saidthat this body could either be a tribunal under Article 323 B of theConstitution of India to be legislated by the state legislature, or anauthority under section 3(3) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, to becreated by the central government. The tribunal/authority can then assess theindividual claims and the polluter company made to pay it.

Basedon the recommendation of the High Power Committee, the Kerala State Assembly,with the support of all the 140 MLAs, unanimously passed the ‘PlachimadaCoca-Cola Victims’ Relief and Compensation Claims Special Tribunal Bill, 2011’on 24 February 2011.

As theHigh Power Committee had found that the Coca Cola company also violated theWater (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974; the Environment(Protection) Act, 1986; the Factories Act, 1948; Hazardous Waste (Managementand Handling) Rules, 1989; the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989; theIndian Penal Code; the Land Utilization Order, 1967; the Kerala Groundwater(Control and Regulation) Act, 2002; and the Indian Easement Act, 1882, theState Government, in its wisdom, thought it fit to send the bill forPresidential assent.

TheKerala Governor had forwarded the bill for Presidential assent on March 30,2011 and it had reached the Union Home Ministry on April 4. The Ministry had,in turn, referred it to the Ministries of Law, Agriculture, Environment andForests and Water for comments on April 18. As per the Cabinet guidelines for disposal of State Legislative Assemblymatters, the Bill would be processed without waiting for further comments ifthe concerned Ministry failed to submit their observations within six weeks.Within six weeks, the Home Ministry, which was coordinating the Bill at theCentre, received comments only from the Ministry of Rural Development, Ministryof Law and Justice and Ministry of Agriculture. The Home Ministry, headed byMr. P. Chidambaram, instead of forwarding the Bill to the President, tookcognizance of the legal opinion sent by the Coca Cola Company and sent the Billback to the Kerala seeking explanation as reported by Mr. P K Biju, MP fromKerala at the Lok Sabha in December 2011.

Thuseven after the passage of the bill in February 2011, the Central Government hasslept over it for more than 9 months and sent it back to the State Governmentraising queries. This is a clearindication that the Central Government favours the multinational company at thecost of the poor people, denying them the due compensation for the lossessuffered. The protest of the AgitationCommittee is therefore significant in this context and if the people riseagainst the apathetic attitude again, squarely the blame lies with the Central Government.