Kerala - Kozhikode   

DYFI vows to enforce `people's verdict' on colas

Special Correspondent

Coca-Cola bottles kept in Kozhikode godown destroyed

TARGET OF ATTACK: A godown of soft drinks at Mooriyad, near Kozhikode, which was destroyed by suspected DYFI activists on Saturday.

KOZHIKODE: A group of suspected Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) activists attacked a godown in the city on Saturday afternoon and destroyed several crates of Coco-Cola soft drink.

The incident took place at Mooriyad, where soft drinks manufactured by various companies are distributed to shops in the city and its suburbs. About 20 crates of Coco-Cola bottles were destroyed. However, Soft drinks of other companies that were in the godown were spared. By the time the police reached the scene the attackers had left. The owner is reported to have told the police that he could identify the members of the group which attacked his godown.

V. Sunil Kumar, owner of the godown, said the Coco-Cola bottles kept in the godown were received from the company before the Government imposed a ban on the soft drink. [The Kerala High Court had on Friday struck down the ban.] He claimed that these were being returned to the company in small lots after the ban came into force.

Kozhikode district president of the Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi K. Hassan Koya condemned the attack and said those who wanted the ban on the soft drink to continue should have taken recourse to legal means instead of attacking merchants' godowns.

Later, at a press conference, DYFI State secretary A. Pradeep Kumar, MLA, and State president P. Sreeramakrishnan said their activists would enforce "the people's verdict" on colas, which he said was reflected in the Government's decision to ban manufacture and sale of soft drinks by Pepei and Coco-Cola in the State. The DYFI would resist any attempts by the cola companies to market their soft drinks in the State. The High Court order lifting the ban was based on "technicalities'' and against "people's interests." The DYFI was determined to make a social intervention to enforce the ban.

CPI takes out march

Our Palakkad Staff Reporter writes:

The Communist Party of India (CPI) took out a march to the Pepsi-Cola unit at Kanjikode near here on Saturday to protest against the decision to start production of Pepsi-Cola and other bottled drinks in the plant.

The marchers, who were stopped 200 metres from the factory gate, tried to break the police cordon that resulted in some minor altercation with the police.

The company suspended production after a ban on the sale of cola drinks in the State by the Government. But the High Court quashed the ban.

Inaugurating the march in front of the factory gate, CPI district assistant secretary Suresh Raj said both the Pepsi and Coca-Cola units should not be allowed in Palakkad which was facing acute drinking water shortage during the summer months every year.

The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), observed `black day' in the district on Saturday against the High Court order lifting the ban.

CPI(ML) protest

Our Kollam Staff Reporter writes:

The CPI(ML) has registered a strong protest against the Kerala High Court verdict lifting the ban on Coca-Cola and Pepsi. In a statement, district secretary of the CPI(ML) K.R. Nair said that the verdict was against the interests of the people and the nation.

Reports that the Government did not conduct the case efficiently also gave rise to fears on its sincerity in the issue. Mr. Nair welcomed the decision of the Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi to boycott cola products.

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