Coca-Cola-nization of Plachimada

From one agitation in Kerala to another..

Coca Cola in Kerala has been in the news more for the wrong reasons rather than any other. The company's Plachimada set up has stirred the hornet's nest by allegedly employing many practices not taken lightly by the people in Kerala in general and the people in Palakkad in particular. It is shocking to see how Coca Cola gave back to Plachimada.

Dr. P. R. Sreemahadevan Pillai, Principal,P.E.T. Engineering College, Tiruchendur Road, Valliyoor, Tirunelveli, who has been involved extensively in efforts to conserve nature and has taken part in issues against environmental degradation (click here for one of his write ups)has written a book,

The Saga of Plachimada

which deals exclusively with the cola giant's escapades in Plachimada. The Saga of Plachimada, written in English and published by M/s. VAK, Mumbai, is being released at 1 p.m. on 14 Feb 2008, at the venue of the VIBGYOR film festival at Thrissur, Kerala, India.

I am pasting herein the Preface from the book, The Saga of Plachimada.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Environmental regulation has experienced tremendous growth in the last quarter of the century resulting in a heavily centralized command-and-control bureaucracy overseeing all aspects of environmental protection including enforcement. Still there are many regions severely polluted by the functioning of industries and stressed by resource crunch, including scarcity of drinking water, which has made the lives of the people there difficult in many aspects. Water is a prime natural resource very essential for life. The amount of potable surface water available is only 0.38% of the total amount of water available on the whole of earth. Kerala State in India is rich in such resources with 44 rivers. Palakkad (Palghat) district of the Kerala State has the highest percent of irrigated land in the State and also has a good potential of water resources. The water available at Plachimada in Palakkad district was suitable for domestic and industrial purposes. It wasin the year 2000 that the Coca Cola bottling plant was set up in Plachimada, after which there was a considerable depletion in the ground water and also degradation in the quality of the available water, making it unsuitable for domestic purposes. When the people at Plachimada resisted the overexploitation of ground water by the multinational corporation, the Coca Cola, it took a new dimension of fight for existence. Environmentalists and human rights activists rallied behind the adivasis of Plachimada in their historic resistance against the scrupulous exploitation of the natural resource with profit motive. Plachimada became a global symbol of a new movement. Though the struggle was begun by the resident adivasis of Plachimada, the involvement of the environmentalists and Government agencies gave some academic input to the whole issue. A lot of investigations were made by institutions and individuals on the depletion and pollution of ground water at Plachimada, the accumulation of toxic elements in water and plants, the health hazards in the locality etc. The author and his team have conducted two such studies from 2004 to 2006. The first study was sponsored by the Science, Technology andEnvironment Department of the Government of Kerala and the second one was sponsored by the Vikas Adhyayan Kendra, Mumbai (erstwhile Bombay). The results of both these studies as also relevant results of the studies conducted by others are included in this book.The socio-economic impacts of Coca Cola at Plachimada is also a matter of concern. Analysis in this line is worth comprehending. Being associated with the struggle from its beginning, the author had chances to address the mass gathering of protestors at Plachimada on some occasions. Plachimada has now become a catch word and hence a comprehensive document on this historical struggle is a sine qua non. This book came out because of the constant persuasion and inspiration of Mr. Ajit Murikkan and Mr.Mustafa Desamangalam. This book is dedicated to the more than a billion people of the world, deprived of safe drinking water.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

These kind of books may well be in the direction of making more and more people aware of the implications of such a project and ensure there is minimal to nil degradation of our environmental resources which are a loan from our ancestors to be held in trust to be handed over to our future generations.

Dam and be damned?

Where ever a dam is proposed to be built, it is quite common to see protests galore. In places it becomes imperative to have the dams whereas in some others it can be avoided. Often than not, it is a clash between conservation and development. Development...well that becomes a controversial subject with many views.

Medha Patkar led Narmada Bachao Andolan's struggle to stall the Sardar Sarovar project is widely publicised but we hardly hear about the Athirappilly project in Kerala though the activists feel that the damage that would occur due to the Kerala State Electricity Board's proposed 163 MW Athirappilly Hydro Electric Project across the Chalakudy River in the Western Ghats in Kerala takes off on the 31st of March as decided by the KSEB would be devastating. This has been possible due to the judgment of the Kerala High Court on 1-1-2008. The struggle against this Hydro Electric Project has been going on for quite a few years now and the Environmental Clearance granted has been cancelled twice by the High Court of Kerala in response to the PILs filed by Chalakudy Puzha Samrakshana Samiti,another organization called NIlanilpu and Athirappilly Grama Panchayat. Since the judgment of the 1st of January, two more PILs are pending before the Court against the Environmental Clearance accorded to start work which is yet to be heard. This project if it takes off will be the 7th dam across this river.

As per Environment Groups, the loss that could ensue if this project takes off -

1. Loss of Athirappilly Waterfalls – An ICON of the Chalakudy River, one of the most visited tourist spots in South India, well placed in the Tourism map of India
2. Loss of the last remaining riparian forest stretch in the river ( the rest has been mostly submerged under the six dams upstream and dried up downstream of the dams ) – perhaps the only remaining low elevation ( 200-300 MSL) riparian stretch in Kerala Western Ghats
3. Submergence of most frequently used elephant route from Parambikulam Wild Life Sanctuary to Pooyamkutty forests
4. Most frequent citing area of all the four Hornbills together in the Kerala Western Ghats – Pied Hornbill cited most frequently
5. Vazhachal Forest Division within which the project area falls has very high conservation value of 75% as per French Institute of Pondicherry’s Studies on Kerala State forests (second to Mankulam Forest Division) – need for preserving the area from further destruction
6. Endemic, highly endangered, primitive, forest dwelling and river dependent Kadar tribal community under threat of loss of livelihood and habitat due to the new dam. A tribe already displaced several times due to the dams upstream with no proper rehabilitation package so far. Around 300 out of the 1500 number of the tribe remaining on earth to be displaced.
7. The habitat of one of the highest Fish Diversity Rivers (104 sp) in India to be destroyed. Presence of riffles, pools and rapids in the river along with riparian forests at low altitude sustains the high diversity of fish species for a 144 km small river with five sp. new to science. Upstream area recommended for a Fish Sanctuary by the National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources (NBFGR).
8. Drinking and irrigation water needs of lakhs of people to be severely affected due to high daily flow fluctuation in the river. The Project is intended to be operated as a peak load station from 6pm to 11 pm. The summer flow in the river is already very low due to the peaking operation of the existing 48 MW HEP just 3 km upstream of the dam and regulation by the other five dams above out of which four divert around 40% water to Tamil Nadu via Parambikulam Aliyar Inter State Inter Basin Treaty.

A seventh dam would mean the death of the river itself...

The resistance against the project is growing.

Since the fresh Environmental Clearance granted to the project in July 2007, people’s resistance to the project has been increasing. Several political parties and social and environmental groups have joined hands with the movement to SAVE THE RIVER from further damming.

There is expert opinion that the Environment Impact Assessment carried out is quite porous and this project is definitely not going to bring in a revolution in the "power" scenario in Kerala. Tightening pilferage of electricity, trying to get the functional hydro electric projects to yield optimum power might just be the solution without touching this river further to ensure there is no further environmental damage