
Over 1500 villagers marched to the Coca-Cola company's bottling plant in Mehdiganj in Varanasi in India yesterday demanding that the bottling plant shut down immediately. Breaking a police barrier that attempted to keep the protesters 300 meters from the bottling plant, the villagers held a rally at the plant's gate accusing the company of creating severe water shortages in the area and polluting the water and land. The march and rally against Coca-Cola in Mehdiganj in the latest in a series of protests against the company in India where communities have accused Coca-Cola bottling plants for exacerbating the water crises through heavy extraction of water from the groundwater resource and polluting the groundwater and soil.
US companies have shown very little concern for the misery they cause throughout India. Western farming abuses are decimating the Indian agricultural communities with suicide and debt, but this is the first I've heard of something involving soft drinks.
I assume they're for local sale. Shipping bottled beverages isn't cheap.
Actually its an interesting twist. Move in make cheap factory with lower standards for safety and regulation.......
VILLAGERS RIOT!
Its beautiful. Could it be an unforeseen consequence of taking advantage of them, that they may get angry and revolt..... Never....
This has been going on for a long time and is thankfully getting some news.
2003: Communities Reject Coca-Cola in India
I like this:
Coca-Cola, it seems, is on its way to soon earning the reputation that Enron enjoyed in India. Both Enron and Coca-Cola top the Foreign Direct Investment list from the US in India.
2005: INDIA: Everything Gets Worse With Coca-Cola
Coke and Pepsi (and bottled water) suck!
You're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead. |