Sunday, February 12 2006 13:44 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Thiruvananthapuram: The Plachimada Solidarity Committee, part of the anti-Coke movement in Kerala, today (Feb 12,2006) expressed surprise over the pro-Left youth organisations' silence on the expolitation of drinking water by multinational giants.

"It was surprising that pro-Left students and youth organisations in the state were silent on exploitation of drinking water by multinationals and environmental pollution caused by them when the stir against them was spreading even in the United States," its Convenor R Ajayan said in a statement here.

Welcoming reports that movement against Colas were picking up in the US campuses, he said student and youth outfits in Kerala should work towards a total boycott of Coke and Pepsi in campuses.

With the campaign taken up by the Solidarity Committee and Plachimada Coca-Cola Virudha Samithi over the last three years, five villages in Kerala had already boycotted Cola products, he claimed.

Resistance groups in these localities were co-operating with the Gandhian model of agitation against Cola giants and the committee was trying to involve more mass organisations in its attempt to extend the boycott to other parts of the state, he said.