PALAKKAD: The decision by Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd (HCCB) to hand over its 35 acres of land and buildings in Plachimada of Perumatty panchayat to the Kerala government marks the exit of the two global soft drink majors, Coke and Pepsi, from the Kerala shores.
The two US soft drinks majors were brought to the state with much fanfare in 1997 by the then LDF government headed by E K Nayanar. In a recent letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Executive Officer of HCCB Juan Pablo Rodriguez Trovato said the beverages giant was ready to hand over the land and the 35,000-sq-feet buildings to the government free of cost.
The officials of the Atlanta-based aerated soft drink major said that just before Covid, they cleared all the wild plants’ growth and had decided to set up classrooms and impart tuition to the children of locals and also appoint a doctor and nurse by setting up a private clinic by utilising the CSR funds. But it was abandoned after the Coca-Cola Virudha Samara Samithi (Anti-Coca Cola Agitation Council) opposed it. In 2021, Rs 65 lakh was spent to set up a 550-bed Covid care centre functioning at the building of the closed plant. The local panchayat set up the toilets from its own fund for the patients. It functioned for a few months till the Covid care centres closed down in the state as the pandemic ebbed.
The Janata Dal (S) ruling committee of the Perumatty panchayat had refused to renew the licence and issued closure notices to the Coke plant stating that the company was indulging in over-exploitation of groundwater and causing pollution due to the discharge of sludge from the plant. This finally led to the closure of the plant in March 2004. It also refused to renew the license on April 26, 2005. The case went to the High Court, where Coke secured a favourable conditional verdict. However, the panchayat approached the Supreme Court, where Coke finally informed that it has no intention to begin operations at the Plachimada plant.
K Krishnankutty of the JD (S), who is the Electricity Minister, when contacted, said the India head of Coke, himself and Industries Minister P Rajeeve met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wherein Coke stated that it was handing over the 35 acres of land and buildings to the government.
He said a demo farm would be set up and value-added products produced by setting up a Farmers Producers’ Company at the site. Perumatty panchayat will control the operations aimed at supplementing the farmers’ income. The formalities are being worked out and will be completed soon, Krishnankutty told TNIE.
A 14-member High Power Committee headed by the then Additional Chief Secretary K Jayakumar, in 2010, found that besides the massive depletion of groundwater, the solid waste discharged by the company as sludge was given to farmers as manure. The sludge discharged from the factory, when analysed in labs, had traces of lead and cadmium in it. It had pegged the compensation payable to the locals as Rs 216 crore.
The move to hand over the company and land to the government before the compensation was paid to the victims is aimed at helping Coca-Cola, said Coca-Cola Virudha Samara Samithi chairman Velayodi Venugopal, who observed the 21st anniversary of the Plachimada agitation before the closed factory gates on Saturday. The LDF government had not exerted pressure on the Centre to revive the Plachimada Coca-Cola Victims Compensation Claims Tribunal Bill, 2011, which was passed unanimously during the tenure of then Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan.