Kerala - Kottayam   

Parties told to make stand clear

Staff Reporter

Plachimada samithy's future course of action after April 3 meeting

KOTTAYAM: The Plachimada Coca-Cola Virudha Samithy has called upon all political parties to come out in the open with their official stance on the basic issues involved in the continuing agitation at Plachimada.

According to samithy chairman Vilayodi Venugopal and Samajwadi Janparishad vice-chairman Joshy Jacob, leaders of almost all the political parties had visited the `samara pandal' and expressed their personal solidarity. However, none of the political parties had come out in the open with their official stand on the basic issues for which the samithy was fighting. Time has come for the political parties to take a stand and make it clear whether they supported the ongoing agitation.

The demands being made by the samithy included permanent closure of the bottling unit at Plachimad. The factory remained closed only because of the strict stand taken by the Plachimada grama panchayat. But neither the company nor the state government, had made any commitment on the closure, they said. Another demand of the samithy was that the Government should initiate prosecution procedures against the multinational company, which destroyed the ecosystem of the village.

Mr. Venugopal said Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan had taken a pro-people stand on the agitation when he was in the Opposition. However, even after nine months in power, he had not taken the initiative to hold talks with the samithy on their demands. The `Jalaadhikara Yatra' being taken out by the samithy would hold a public meeting of civil society organisations on April 3 in Thiruvananthapuram where they expected the political parties would make their stand clear on the demands.

Based on this, the samithy would declare its future course of action, Mr. Venugopal said.

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