A K Antony urged to help set up tribunal

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Renowned writers and poets have made an appeal to Defence Minister A K Antony to ensure that the compensation in the Coca Cola case reaches the affected persons in Plachimada.

For this, they have requested to set up a tribunal to assess each individual case, as recommended by the high-power multidisciplinary committee.

The appeal was submitted to Antony by Sarah Joseph in Delhi. It has the signatures of Sukumar Azhikode, novelist Vaisakan, poet K G Sankara Pillai, environmentalist S Faizi and Sarah Joseph.

``The politics of Plachimada issue is beyond party politics, with both the LDF and the UDF supporting the victims of corporate avarice - it is the politics of how our scarce natural resources should be managed for the benefit of all,’’ said the appeal.

It may be recalled that the high-power committee on Plachimada, chaired by K Jayakumar, Additional Chief Secretary, had assessed the damages at Rs 216.26 crore. This included Rs 84.16 crore for agricultural loss, Rs 30 crore for health damages, Rs 20 crore as cost of providing water, Rs 20 crore for wage loss and opportunity loss and Rs 62.10 crore as cost of pollution of water resources.

The empowered committee report had put forth two recommendations.

One is the constitution by legislation a `Claims Tribunal’ for the adjudication of disputes relating to compensation due to water and air pollution and the other is to approach the Central Government to constitute an Authority under the Environment Protection Act, with powers necessary to deal with such situations.

``We seek your support in taking the compensation process forward to its logical conclusion, your support will be important given the influence wielded by the Cola giant,’’ said the appeal submitted to the Defence Minister.

In 2003, the district medical officer had advised the people of Plachimada that their water was polluted and unfit for consumption.The Kerala Agricultural University had found that the fodder, milk, meat and egg samples collected from Plachimada area contained cadmium, lead and chromium, way above the level prescribed by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The writers, in their appeal, lauded Antony for temporarily closing down the factory in March 2004 and the LDF Government for the steps it took to obtain compensation for the affected people.

The Committee also found that the Cola company had violated a number of laws including Water Act, 1974, Environment Protection Act, 1986, the Factories Act 1948, Hazardous Waste Rules, 1989, SC-ST Act 1989, Land Utilisation order 1967 and the Kerala Ground Water Act among others.

``This estimate of Rs 216.26 crore is a very modest estimation and not the total liability. The individual loss and the compensation of loss of water maybe evaluated by a tribunal later on,’’ Jayakumar had said earlier, while releasing the report by the empowered panel.