Plachimada agitators plan protest march

Palakkad: Even 15 years after closing down of the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Plachimada, the people who were affected by the operation of the plant is yet to receive proper compensation. The Plachimada solidarity committee and the anti-Coca-Cola agitation committee is planning a march to the residence of the chief minister in Thiruvanathapuram demanding to pass a bill in the assembly to provide compensation the victims of Plachimada.

The anti-Coca Cola agitation committee chairman Vilayodi Venugopal, general convener Arumughan Pathichira and solidarity committee convener M Sulaiman will lead the agitation. They alleged that the successive central government protected the company instead of taking action against them for polluting water and environment, and depriving farmers of their livelihood.

People’s Union of Civil Liberties state president P A Pauran, while inaugurating Muthanga tribal land agitation anniversary day at Plachimada, said that if attempts were made to reopen the bottling plant, there will be intense mass agitation.

The bottling plant, started in 1999, stopped functioning in March 2004 after mass agitation. tnn