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Home--News
Election Results Sound Defeat for Coca-Cola Company
Village Council Opposed to Coca-Cola Resoundingly Re-Elected
in India
For Immediate Release
September 30, 2005
Contacts:
R. Ajayan, Plachimada Solidarity Committee (India) Tel: +91 98471
42513
Amit Srivastava, India Resource Center (US) E: info@IndiaResource.org
T: +1 415 336 7584
San Francisco: Coca-Cola has lost in India yet again, this time at
the polls. In a resounding victory for the campaign to hold Coca-Cola
accountable, constituents voted on September 26 to keep the incumbent
panchayat (village council) leadership in Perumatty panchayat in Kerala
in southern India.
The election results confirm that the majority of the local population
is opposed to the Coca-Cola bottling plant.
One of Coca-Cola's largest bottling plants is located in Plachimada,
in the Perumatty panchayat, and the village council had ordered it
shut down, accusing the Coca-Cola company of causing severe water
shortages and pollution in the area. The bottling plant has remained
closed for 18 months now.
Perumatty panchayat president Mr. A. Krishnan, representing Janata
Dal (Secular), was re-elected, and the Left Democratic Front (LDF),
of which Mr. Krishnan's party, Janata Dal (Secular), is a constituent,
won 15 of the 17 wards in the panchayat.
The Anti-Coca-Cola Struggle Committee - the community based group
leading the campaign against Coca-Cola - publicly supported the Left
Democratic Front.
There were numerous allegations that agents of the Coca-Cola company
were offering monies to the public to buy their vote-to vote against
the LDF candidates.
Coca-Cola was a major issue on the campaign trail, and Mr. K. Krishnankutty,
secretary general of the Janata Dal (Secular) said, "the fight in
Perumatty is for protecting the rights of people over natural resources,"
referring specifically to Coca-Cola's abuse of water resources.
"This is a people's verdict against the Coca-Cola company," said R.
Ajayan, convener of the Plachimada Solidarity Committee, a statewide
network of groups supporting the local campaign. "Coca-Cola's claims
that it has the support of the local community has been proved to
be a lie, and all their promises of jobs and building schools has
not made an impact on people's lives," continued Ajayan.
The Coca-Cola company is in trouble in India. Just two weeks ago,
the state government of Kerala filed an appeal with the Supreme Court
of India, challenging the Coca-Cola company's right to extract water.
And on August 19, 2005, the Kerala Pollution Control Board ordered
the bottling plant shut down due to high levels of pollution in the
area.
The panchayat elections in Perumatty panchayat were closely watched
by many and may also have contributed to statewide election results.
"The almost sweeping two-thirds win for the Left Democratic Front
in the state is a sure indicator of the simmering discontent of people
to the outright handover of natural resources to the corporate sector"
said C.R. Bijoy of People's Union for Civil Liberties.
"The people of Plachimada have said loud and clear that the Coca-Cola
company is not welcome their community. The state government of Kerala
has also made it clear that they stand behind the community. We are
not sure what sign the company is waiting for before it packs its
bags and leaves," said Amit Srivastava of the India Resource Center,
an international campaigning organization.
For more information, visit www.IndiaResource.org
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