Twenty-nine years after George Fernandes bundled out IBM and Coca-Cola from India to emerge as the country’s top MNC-slayer, Kerala’s Marxist CM V S Achuthanandan on Wednesday sought to grab the mantle from him by serving marching orders on cola giants Coke and Pepsi.
Emerging from a cabinet meeting of the state’s Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, Achuthanandan said neither Coke nor Pepsi can manufacture or sell their products in Kerala. Their licences are being scrapped as well. Although LDF has been fighting the cola majors for over-extraction of groundwater at their bottling plants in Palakkad, Wednesday’s step has been triggered by the Centre for Science and Environment’s campaign against alleged pesticide residues in Coke and Pepsi.
It was, indeed, a black Wednesday for the cola companies. Apart from Kerala, the Karnataka government too banned the sale of all aerated drinks, including Coke and Pepsi, from schools, colleges and government hospitals. Orissa, too, is thinking of pulling the plug on them in schools and colleges. Aerated drinks have already been banned from schools in Rajasthan and MP. Gujarat has disallowed colas in government offices. (Besides, many schools and colleges across the country, including in the metros, have on their own said no to sale of aerated drinks on campus.)
But none of these states have yet gone as far as Kerala to throw out the cola biggies lock, stock and barrel. Achuthanandan said: ‘‘Recent studies have shown that aerated soft drinks (Coke and Pepsi) contain pesticide residues that are harmful to humans and the government has decided to ban the sale and production of the soft drinks in the state.’’
Both Coca-Cola and Pepsi said their drinks were perfectly safe, while company sources hinted they have ‘‘no choice but to take legal recourse as there is no basis for such a ban’’.
Interestingly, Kerala has turfed out only Coke and Pepsi. Asked if only products of these two were being banned, the CM replied in the affirmative and added more studies would be conducted to see if similar action should be taken against others.
MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE
Weeded out
Kerala to close down cola production units and ban sales
Partial ban*
Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab *On sale of colas in schools, colleges, hospitals, state offices etc
Problems galore
Cola giants had earlier faced pesticide row three years ago
SC has asked soft drink majors to reveal their ingredients in six weeks
Pepsi and Coke were banned in India in 1977 and allowed back in 1993
Emerging from a cabinet meeting of the state’s Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, Achuthanandan said neither Coke nor Pepsi can manufacture or sell their products in Kerala. Their licences are being scrapped as well. Although LDF has been fighting the cola majors for over-extraction of groundwater at their bottling plants in Palakkad, Wednesday’s step has been triggered by the Centre for Science and Environment’s campaign against alleged pesticide residues in Coke and Pepsi.
It was, indeed, a black Wednesday for the cola companies. Apart from Kerala, the Karnataka government too banned the sale of all aerated drinks, including Coke and Pepsi, from schools, colleges and government hospitals. Orissa, too, is thinking of pulling the plug on them in schools and colleges. Aerated drinks have already been banned from schools in Rajasthan and MP. Gujarat has disallowed colas in government offices. (Besides, many schools and colleges across the country, including in the metros, have on their own said no to sale of aerated drinks on campus.)
But none of these states have yet gone as far as Kerala to throw out the cola biggies lock, stock and barrel. Achuthanandan said: ‘‘Recent studies have shown that aerated soft drinks (Coke and Pepsi) contain pesticide residues that are harmful to humans and the government has decided to ban the sale and production of the soft drinks in the state.’’
Both Coca-Cola and Pepsi said their drinks were perfectly safe, while company sources hinted they have ‘‘no choice but to take legal recourse as there is no basis for such a ban’’.
Interestingly, Kerala has turfed out only Coke and Pepsi. Asked if only products of these two were being banned, the CM replied in the affirmative and added more studies would be conducted to see if similar action should be taken against others.
MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE
Weeded out
Kerala to close down cola production units and ban sales
Partial ban*
Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab *On sale of colas in schools, colleges, hospitals, state offices etc
Problems galore
Cola giants had earlier faced pesticide row three years ago
SC has asked soft drink majors to reveal their ingredients in six weeks
Pepsi and Coke were banned in India in 1977 and allowed back in 1993
