The Hindu : Kerala News : Coca-Cola denies PCB's charge

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 15, 2005

Kerala

Kerala

Coca-Cola denies PCB's charge

Special Correspondent

`Cadmium-bearing raw materials not used for manufacturing our beverages'

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Coca-Cola has denied using cadmium-bearing raw materials for manufacturing its beverages at its plant at Plachimada in Palakkad district.

The company made this denial in its reply dated July 12 to a show-cause notice issued by the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) on July 1. The PCB, in its notice, had asked the bottling plant to explain why the `consent to operate' issued to it earlier should not be renewed due to the unexplained presence of the heavy metal, cadmium, in the sludge generated by it and in the well water in a nearby colony, among other reasons.

Unlawful hurdles

Taking strong exception to PCB's reference about the presence of hazardous levels of cadmium in the sludge and well water, Coca-Cola said: "Traces of cadmium presence found in some samples of sludge do not and cannot lead to the conclusion that there are cadmium-bearing raw materials being used by the company."

"The Board [PCB] is seeking to take a fishing enquiry only with the sole objective of prejudicing the interest of the company and to achieve some pre-determined goals of creating unlawful hurdles," it claimed.

The bottling plant had been closed since March 9, 2004, when the High Court delivered its order in a case filed by the local panchayat complaining that the company's operations were causing severe depletion of the groundwater resources of the area. The High Court lifted the closure order on April 7, this year, after imposing certain conditions on the company on the basis of an expert committee's report on the quantum of groundwater that could be drawn by the company without causing groundwater depletion in the area. The company, however, has not been able to resume its operations till now since the `consent to operate' order issued by the PCB earlier had expired. When the company applied for renewal of the `consent to operate,' the PCB took the position that the details furnished in the application were insufficient.

The PCB's tests had shown that cadmium was present in concentrations in the range of 200 to 300 milligram per kilogram in some of the sludge samples collected from the company's effluent treatment plant. Water in two wells used for drinking purposes in a nearby colony too had shown cadmium concentration of 0.02 and 0.01 milligram per litre.

Both in the case of the sludge and well water, the heavy metal concentration was above the permissible limits. The PCB, in its notice, also noted that the company had not complied with the instructions of the Supreme Court's monitoring committee on pollution-related issues to install a `reverse osmosis system' for treating the effluents so as to prevent groundwater contamination.

Referring to this point, Coca-Cola asked the PCB "to place on record or show under which provisions of the Water Act, the Board or the Supreme Court's Monitoring Committee had directed the company to install a particular technology only for meeting these specifications." According to the company, the function of the PCB was to define and lay down the specifications and take corrective steps if the specifications were not met.The company, in its reply, expressed reservations over the "conduct" of the PCB's Member Secretary, who had issued the show-cause notice. It demanded that the show-cause and proceedings thereon be adjudicated by the chairman of the PCB.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala

News Update

Stories in this Section

Coca-Cola denies PCB's charge

They celebrate the fall of Bastille

Hospitality begins at home for this Mayor

A book in great demand

Striking a nostalgic chord

Nature's fury

Briefly