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Check Exploitation of Groundwater By Coca-Cola: Kerala Opposition
February 6, 2006
Times of India
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan today
alleged that the government was not preventing soft drink major Coca-Cola
from drawing groundwater in Plachimada in Palakkad even after the
groundwater estimation committee reported the area as over-exploited.
During a submission in the Assembly, he said the committee in its
study had omitted Malampuzha block where the Pepsi plant was situated
in order to save the multi-national.
The committee's report listed only 151 blocks while there were 152
blocks in the state, he said adding that people in Puthussery have
been on the warpath for the last five years against Pepsi exploiting
groundwater.
He said five zones in the state, including Chittoor, where both Pepsi
and Coke plants were located, had been identified as over-exploited
regions in the report. He wanted to know why the government was not
taking steps to check the unlawful exploitation of groundwater.
In his reply, water resources minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan
said the government concurred with the views of Achuthanandan and
would take steps to check over-exploitation of groundwater for industrial
purposes.
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