Today is world environment day! June 5th, 2013
I recollect having visited the Plachimada coca cola bottling plant way back in 2002. This was about 11 years ago, when I was doing my first year of MBA. As part of our learning process, the Department of Management studies of my college had conducted about 18 Industrial visits and 32 Guest lecture from various renowned people in the Industry. One of the Visits was to the Coca Cola Bottling Plant in Plachimada, in Chittur District in Palakkad, Kerala.
Then, the troubled HCCBPL (Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Private Limited) gave us a laminated hand out of their Environment Policy. Luckily I managed to safe guard it for this day. Please find the scanned copy below.
Today the Coca cola plant in Palakkad has been locked out permanently on the grounds of environment pollution, however coca cola stills sells in the country. Not Just coca cola, but several other non environment friendly products are sold every day in our country.
Kerala’s Red-attitude cannot be blamed for the plight of the coca cola plant. Drinking water at any given point of time is more important than the cola which was mixed with chemicals and sold out in the market for a very high margin in the market. It’s true that, the trade union issues in Kerala have prevented many industries to be set up in Kerala; however the Plachimada plant issue looked more genuine in relation to the excessive use of ground water and pollution that it caused.
After years, today I see the police shooing away poor street sellers; some selling fruits, vegetables, juices and many other stuff for their daily living; all in the name of environment day. Policies are applicable only for the poor voting community where as for the rich; the environment policies are to be confined to the paper and framed on the wall.
Isn’t this the height of Hypocrisy?