Court's green signal to Plachimada plant
In a blow to the Perumatty gram panchayat in Kerala's Palakkad district, on April 7, 2005, the Kerala High Court (HC) permitted the Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Limited to resume production at its Plachimada plant. The company can draw not more than 0.5 million litres of water per day. The limit is as per the final suggestions of the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (cwrdm), Kozhikode.
The gram panchayat has been fighting groundwater exploitation by the company (see Down To Earth, 'Calling the shots', December 15, 2003) at Plachimada. The Coca-Cola plant had been closed for over two years now. The court said the gram panchayat 's own failure triggered the latest order. "The panchayat had not filed any detailed objection about the [final] report, and continued to rely on the objections made against the interim report [of CWRDM]. Thus, it has not been possible to know their stand...Although an affidavit is filed...it has come out as a very feeble effort." The court allowed the gram panchayat to inspect the limits of water drawn, but without inconveniencing Coca-Cola. Many non-governmental organisations against the plant now plan to approach the Supreme Court.
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