Coca Cola Company, a multinational beverage conglomorate, has offered to give the Kerala government 35 acres of land it owns at Plachimada in the Palakkad district back.
Chief Executive Officer of Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Limited Juan Pablo Rodriguez Trovato informed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in writing of the company's decision to transfer ownership of the property and the building there to the government, CMO said in statement.
As per report, the government's Left front has already started negotiating the transfer of land for the proposed farmer producer organisation (FPO), which is expected to be established shortly and will be led by farmers.
It said, the beverage business was finally prepared to relinquish the land at the commencement of talks held under former Power Minister K Krishnankutty.
Further, the company also offered to provide technical help for the construction of a demo farm for the farmers there, CMO statement said.
Following protests by locals who claimed the firm was exploiting groundwater and polluting the environment, Coca-Cola shut down its Plachimada facility in March 2004.
The non-operational Plachimada unit was converted into the Covid treatment facility earlier in June 2021. Turned a non-functioning Coca-Cola plant in Palakkad into a 550-bed Covid treatment center spending Rs1.1 Crore. The Covid second line treatment centre has 100 oxygen beds, 50 ICU beds and 20 ventilators. Kerala is gearing up for the impending third wave," the CM tweeted earlier.
