Editorials.(Editorial)

TRAIL-BLAZING LAWKerala sets another global exampleON the final day of its final session before dissolution and election, the Kerala Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed the trail-blazing Plachimada Coca-Cola Victims Relief and Compensation Bill, 2011, enabling victims of the Coca-Cola bottling plant at Plachimada in Palakkad district of Kerala to be adequately compensated for the ecological damage caused by it. Based on the polluter pays principle, the high-level, three-member expert committee headed by Additional Chief Secretary, K Jayakumar. held the beverage unit liable to pay Rs 216.16 crore for damages caused. The committee found compelling evidence to conclude that Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Limited (a subsidiary of Atlanta, USA, based Coca-Cola Company) has caused serious depletion of Plachimadas water resources and has severely contaminated the water and soil. The committee concluded the company was responsible for these damages and it was obligatory that it compensate the affected people for agricultural losses, health problems, loss of wages, loss of educational opportunities, and to the …