---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: R Ajayan <neerajam2004@ yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, Feb 22, 2009 at 7:17 PM
Subject: [anticocacolastrugg lesupporters] AN OPEN LETTER TO SASITHARUR
To: anticocacolastruggl esupporters@ yahoogroups. com
14 February 2009
An Open Letter to Shashi Tharoor,
You are aware that Coca Cola plant at Plachimada, Palakkad in your native State
of Kerala has been shut down since 2004 as they failed to get the requisite
licenses from the Kerala Pollution Control Board and the Perumatty Panchayat.
The primary reasons for this are:
Coca Cola polluted the ground water with deadly toxic and carcinogenic cadmium
and lead which Coca Cola does not list under 'raw materials' and refuse to
provide an explanation for their presence
Coca Cola distributed and spread around these deadly toxic and carcinogenic
cadmium and lead through their waste sludge and slurry under the guise that
these are good soil nutrients
Coca Cola did not supply piped water to the affected families as ordered by the
Supreme Court Monitoring Committee on Hazardous Waste
Coca Cola, as the single most largest extractor of ground water extracting at
the highest rate, largest transporter of water to the outside through
softdrinks, a non-essential luxury good, contributed the largest to the
depletion of ground water
The anti Coca Cola struggle launched in 2002 in Plachimada by primarily the
Adivasis and Dalits, is the longest popular struggle in the history of Kerala
supported by the widest sections of the people of Kerala and of all political
hues.
You may be aware that protests have been going on elsewhere in the country
against many other Coca Cola plants as in Mehdi Ganj and Kala Dera for similar
destruction of environment, water and livelihoods. You may also be aware about
the allegations against Coca Cola for getting its own workers assassinated in
Columbia through the drug mafia which was to be enquired into by ILO. Coca Cola
products were also indicted by Centre for Science & Environment, New Delhi, for
producing and selling bottled water and softdrinks with pesticide and other
contaminants. Latest in the series is the $7.59 million penalty that Coca Cola
agreed to pay in February 2009 to the City of American Canyon in
Napa County, USA, for violations in wastewater treatment permit since 2005
till May 2008 that resulted in high concentrations of contaminants that
interfered with the City's wastewater treatment process and posed an
environmental hazard.
A former Under-Secretary- General of the United Nations, author,
writer-columnist and an advisor to several institutions and reportedly
nurturing political ambition, it is with shock and dismay that we, in your
native Kerala, have to see you as a Member of the Advisory Board of Coca-Cola
India Foundation[1]. We condemn your insensitivity and unconcern to align with
the criminal Coca-Cola against the people of PLACHIMADA.
VELUR SWAMINATHAN ,SECRETARY Plachimada Adivasis Samrakshana
Sangham
And R.AJAYAN.CONVENER
Plachimada Samara Aikyadhardya Samithy
[1] http://www.cokefact s.com/PressCente r/Press_Release_ Coca-Cola_
India_Foundation _set_up_4th_ Dec_07.pdf
In a press release from New Delhi dated December 3, 2007: […..] setting up of
Coca-Cola India Foundation […]This Foundation with an initial corpus of USD 10
million would focus on a range of activities including water, the environment,
healthy living and social advancement. " Mr. Muhtar Kent, President and COO,
The Coca-Cola Company […] The advisory board members of the Foundation include
Mr. Justice J. S. Verma, Former Chief Justice of India and Chairman National
Human Rights Commission, Dr. Mithu Alur, Founder/Chairperson , Spastics'
Society of India and The National Resource Centre for Inclusion, Mr. Javed
Akhtar, Poet, lyricist, script writer and social activist, Mr. Shashi Tharoor,
Author and international civil servant, Mr. Bunker Roy of Barefoot College, Dr.
Naresh Trehan, cardiologist and opinion leader, Mr. Roshan Seth, Actor,
socialite and theater personality, Dr. (Mrs.) Shyama Chona, Principal, Delhi
Public School. Mr. Yogesh Chandra is
the CEO of the Foundation.
R.Ajayan
Convener
Plachimada Solidarity Committee
Ph:- Res 0471-2730464
Mob- 09847142513
Res Add - Neerajam,
Kudappanakunnu,
Trivandrum-695043
Kerala, India
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