Plachimada plant
Coca-Cola set up a factory in the tribal village of Plachimada in Kerala in 1999. The factory extracted huge quantities of groundwater for its production. The groundwater level receded and was found to be contaminated by the factory's operations, giving rise to health issues among the residents of the village. The company sold the slurry and sludge waste as fertilizer to locals, primarily engaged in farming, which was later found to contain dangerous levels of toxic metals in a study conducted by the University of Exeter. Coca-Cola India executives, however, claimed that the fertilizer was "good for crops", and they had scientific evidence proving its safety. Eventually, locals mobilized under the banner 'Coca-Cola Virudha Janakeeya Samara Samithy' (Anti Coca-Cola Peoples Struggle Committee) and demanded that the factory be closed and farmers be compensated. The company initiated legal action against the protestors, which resulted in intimidation, arrests and false cases being filed against the protestors. They received support from neighbouring villages, environmentalists, politicians, scientists, and several civil society organizations. The plant was forced to stop production in March 2004. The cause of the farmers became international with a BBC investigatory report and later in 2007 when college students in the United States ran a nationwide campaign calling for a boycott of Coca-Cola. After a prolonged legal battle in Kerala High Court and then the Supreme Court, Coca-Cola relinquished its licence in July 2017 and stated that it would not resume production in the plant.
