Multinational giant Coca-Cola, in the eye of a storm over recent reports in the British press that sludge from its unit at Plachimada in Kerala's Palakkad district could cause health hazards, on Thursday denied the charges citing "facts," but said the report was not part of any 'cola war.'
At a press meet in Thiruvananthapuram, interrupted briefly by the Democratic Youth Federation of India activists distributing pamphlets against Coke, G S Mathur, vice president (technical section) of Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Limited, said the sludge was not being used as a fertiliser.
But the waste was being used inside the plant compound and supplied to farmers free of cost, as it was found to be a good soil conditioner. Studies conducted by them had proved that the sludge did not contain any toxic elements, he claimed.
While stating that the BBC had approached them for details regarding the waste from the plant, he said all facts were not mentioned in their story, reportedly based on a study from a scientific agency.
"We don't have any idea from where they have collected samples of the sludge and came to the conclusion that it contained cadmium and lead," he said.
"We are conducting our own study and will go to BBC again and tell them the facts. We are also working with the regulating agencies of the government, including the Kerala State Pollution Control Board to make the final assessment," he added.
Asked why Coke was not suing BBC for the report, he said the company was not interested in fighting court cases against mediapersons. To a query whether it was part of a 'cola war,' Mathur replied in the negative. "Certainly not," he said.
Mathur said all the regulatory authorities had given the plant good certificates for maintaining the environment management systems.
"Our standards on water resource management and effluent treatment and practices are very stringent," he said, adding that the plant authorities also got along very well with the locals.
Denying reports that the plant had dug 600 wells inside its compound, he said water was being drawn from only six borewells and the average water consumption per day was 0.5 million litres.
The findings of the report of R N Athavale, emeritus scientist of Geographical Research Institute, had clearly said that there was no field evidence to indicate the over-exploitation of groundwater from the plant premises, he said.
The plant had also been collecting 112,000 kilolitres of water through rain harvesting a year, which was 65 per cent of the water consumed by it. An amount of Rs 12 million had been spent for effluent treatment, as per the specifications suggested by the Kerala State Pollution Control Board, he said.
Hindustan Coca-Cola beverages director (public affairs) Nantoo Banerjee and Jaspal Singh (regional director, South) were also present at the press meet.
Meanwhile, DYFI activists took out a protest march in front of the hotel where the press meet was held. Two of its activists, who sneaked into the press conference hall and started distributing pamphlets against the Coke plant, went back when journalists objected.
