Open Happiness' or open a can of worms?

1999 was an interesting real estate year for Mehdiganj village in Uttar Pradesh. Someone began buying up land adjoining a soft drink factory owned by the Parle Company. They also began buying land from the farmers except the farmers had no idea as to whom they were selling the land to. As the boundary wall rose up, problems arose too. It was only later that the villagers realised that Coca Cola (Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages, or HCCB) had acquired Parle in 1999 and had begun to expand the plant in Mehndiganj.

At that point, it was too late to stop any construction.

Given the numerous problems that resulted from this, the villagers decided that they needed a more informed and focused approach to combat them. They approached a small organisation called Lok Samiti headed by Nandlal Master. Lok Samiti decided to study the problem and understand the farmer's demands as well as the Company's position.

Nandlal breaks up the various points of contention into four groups. You can listen to him narrate the story below, or scroll down for a summary.

Land:

Lok Samiti questions the seeming negligence of the government in this matter, while the law is otherwise intolerant of any encroachment on public land. There is also an issue with the stamp duty paid as there is a discrepancy in the market value of the land as reported by Coca Coal in the purchase papers and in the No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Department of Industries. A villager filed a PIL in this regard, following which the court stated that as per Coca Cola's own documents, they have underpaid stamp duty by Rs. 1.5 crore. It has since ordered the Company to pay the remainder of the stamp duty within a month along with a penalty of an equal amount. The Company contested this in the High Court and the case is still pending.

Labour:

Pollution:

The State Pollution Control Board required that the Company treat all waste within its limits. This dealt with the issue of the sludge, but the Company then began releasing their wastewater into a neighboring village. This then led to protests in that village. The Company is now disposing its wastewater underground. Later tests by the Peoples' Science Institute and by TERI confirm that pollution still hasn't stopped, a fact confirmed by physical verification by the Central Pollution Control Board.

Water:

Coca Cola also declares that it is carrying out rainwater harvesting (RWH). The efficacy of these measures are questioned by the villagers who point out that most of the RWH structures are now defunct and in disrepair. The villagers also resent the magnamious attitude that the Company assumes while talking of its RWH measures while this is infact a legal requirement of any Company that uses groundwater.

Despite the groundwater depletion already visible, the Company has now filed for permission to increase withdrawal by 5 times, from a depth of 1000 feet below ground level. Lok Samiti questions the wisdom of using this deep store of water for commercial uses.

Within 4 years of the Company beginning operations, the groundwater status in the block has moved from 'safe' to 'critical'. What is yet to come in the next four years can only be contemplated.