Soft drink major Coca Cola has been asked to close down one of its plants in Kerala's Pallakad District after excess Cadmium contents were detected in its sludge discharge.

The closure order was issued by the Kerala State Pollution Control Board which had sought clarification from Coca Cola Beverages Limited on the source of excess Cadmium, at times 600 percent above than the permissible limit.

"In the waste water treatment sludges we have found contents of Cadmium abnormally high. It goes up to 600 percent above the permissible limit. In the ground water the content of Cadmium is not that much. So, there is something which they are using in the raw materials," said G Raja Mohan, the President of Kerala State Pollution Control Board.

The board also pointed out that the plant had also not complied with the Supreme Court appointed monitoring committee's instructions to install a reverse osmosis system for effluent treatment.

"For the treatment of water we had suggested reverse osmosis or something similar. This was a suggestion by the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee and we had also issued direction , which they have not done," added G Raja Mohan.

The PCB order is a setback to the company at a time when it was getting ready to resume production after remaining closed for about two years.

The Kerala High Court recently asked the Perumatty Panchayat to allow the company to resume production.

The plant had been in the eye of a storm with local groups blaming the company for depleting groundwater sources in the area and causing pollution with the discharge of sludge containing heavy metals.

Earlier this month, over 1,500 people rallied against a proposal to set up a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Gangaikondan village in Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli District.

Communities from across Tamil Nadu converged in Gangaikondan to oppose a proposal by the South India Bottling Company Private Limited (SIBCL) - a Coca-Cola franchisee - to set up a 6.5 million dollar soft-drinks unit in the village.

Water scarcity is a common problem in the region, and a broad based movement has emerged to stop the Coca-Cola plant from coming up - insisting that a bottling plant will further exacerbate water scarcity in the area.

Communities contend that water needs for drinking and agriculture are not being met, and such a water-intensive factory has no place in the area.

Coca-Cola company officials, along with their franchisee, SIBCL, have refused to make public full details of the bottling plant, in spite of repeated demands from the community. As a result, many questions remain unanswered.

According to an India Resource Center report, the franchisee claims to have secured permission for extracting 500,000 liters of water per day, the state Pollution Control Board documents have earmarked 900,000 liters for the plant.

Coca-Cola's operations in India have come under intense scrutiny as many communities are experiencing severe water shortages as well as contaminated groundwater and soil, directly as a result of Coca-Cola's bottling operations. A massive movement has emerged across India to hold the Coca-Cola company accountable for its actions.

Community representatives from Plachimada and Sivagangai, sites of two successful campaigns against Coca-Cola in India, were also present at the rally, and a delegation from Gangaikondan had visited Plachimada in early August.

The Plachimada plant, one of Coca-Cola's largest bottling facilities in India, has remained shut for 17 months now because the village council has refused to renew its license, blaming the company for causing water shortages and pollution.

Various political parties as well as a broad range of groups, such as the South Tamil Nadu Merchants Association and the Tamil Nadu Government Employees Association participated in the rally, indicative of the growing discontent over Coca-Cola's operations in India.

The Supreme Court of India will soon be hearing three cases relating to Coca-Cola's business misdemeanours in India.

Calls for shutting down Coca-Cola bottling plants are getting stronger across India. The Kerala Government has also moved the Supreme Court of India to challenge Coca-Cola's crimes in India.

Coca-Cola's sales have reportedly dropped 14 percent in the last quarter (April-June) in India,even as the company is undergoing a major reorganization in the country in an effort to contain the growing opposition to it.