A strong protest is brewing in Dehradun against the planned Coca Cola bottling plant in Chharba village, as the State Government turns a blind eye to the alarming evidence on the human and ecological damage that Coca Cola plants in other areas of India have caused.
Citizens, scientists and activists have launched an agitation opposing the MoU signed between the State and the company to open the Rs 600 crore plant and are preparing to file a Public Interest litigation against the decision if the MOU is not canceled.
While campaigners allege corruption accusing senior State ministers and bureaucrats of compromising with public health and safety in return for huge commissions from the multinational, what unsettles the mind is the total disregard of the State Government to the scientific findings that prove toxic contamination of water sources, acute water scarcity and serious illnesses in Indian villages where Coca Cola has set up bottling plants.
“This is not the first Coca Cola plant coming up. There is a history of protests against Coca Cola plants elsewhere like Plachimada in Kerela, Mehendiganj and Balia in UP and Kala Dera in Rajasthan. The Gram Sabha’s permission should be obtained before allotting the land.
The Government could have agreed to simply facilitate the establishment of a bottling plant and later given them a piece of barren uninhabited wasteland. But here, our State Government has acted anti-people by allotting them village common land without any impact assessment or consent of the locals,” noted environment scientist Dr Ravi Chopra of People’s Science Institute told The Pioneer.
The PSI has conducted important studies on two other Coca Cola plants in the country that showed alarming levels of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals in ground and surface water near the plants, soil infertility, water level depletion and spread of diseases strongly indicated to have been caused as a result of the plants.
“We have found the presence of dangerous levels of chromium, cadmium and lead in the ground water. These carcinogenic elements were not found at a distance from the plant. Therefore, it may be safely inferred that the dangerous chemicals have come from the Coca Cola plant.
“I once again remind people that in 1977 the Industries Minister, George Fernandes had asked Coca Cola to either reveal its formula or leave the country which made the company leave the country. Perhaps time has come now to once again ask Coca Cola to leave not only Uttarakhand but to leave the country,” emphasised Chopra.
If this were not enough, the State seems to have ignored the severe deforestation that will take place for setting up the plant at the allotted land. According to information received by The Pioneer it is estimated that 60,000 trees will have to be felled for constructing the bottling plant.
Studies conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment some years ago showed that the standards Coca Cola maintains in the West are not maintained here.
The company’s defence is that it maintains Indian standards. But Coca Cola’s advertising claims that Coca Cola is the same the world over, which means that the multinational is guilty of false advertising. There is a total lack of transparency or consistency in the claims made by Coca Cola, allege activists and citizens.
While Coca Cola insists on drawing water from the Yamuna, “Even engineers of the Yamuna River Development Authority have admitted depleted water levels in the Yamuna.
Firstly, Yamuna does not have adequate water to meet the daily requirement of the planned bottling plant. The second question is of water contamination. Where will the effluents be releasedIJ” questions Anil, scientist with Environment Quality Monitoring Group of PSI that is studying the impacts of the planned plant in Uttarakhand.
Protesting aggressively against the plant, Citizens for Green Doon is preparing to file a Public Interest litigation at the High Court in addition to a signature campaign.
Rural litigation and Entitlement Kendra has also gone up against the planned bottling plant to be set up here, as has Vandana Shiva’s Navdanya.
If current trends are anything to go by, Uttarakhand will also be witnessing a vehement mass protest against Coca Cola as has been seen in other parts of the country in the past years.
Government officials fail to come up with a convincing answer, only doling out hackneyed and apparently hollow promises that due steps will be taken to protect the people and environment from the dangerous impacts of the Coca Cola plant.