A Coca-Cola plant in south India's Kerala Pradesh will reopen after 15 months of shutdown, accused of misusing local water resources, Indo-Asian News Service reported Tuesday.

The village council officials in Palakkad district of Kerala restored the production license to the Plachimada plant of Hindustan Coco-Cola Beverages Ltd. Monday.

"We have asked the company not to discharge the effluents that would cause worry to nearby residents," said A. Krishnan, the village chief. "They have been also asked to ensure that they do not draw more than 500,000 liters of water a day from the Plachimada water shed."

The Plachimada bottling unit, put into operation in March 2000, was accused by villagers of overdrawing water. The opposition became stronger after a BBC Radio 4 report in September 2003 said lead and cadmium were discovered in waste produced by the plant.

The village administration canceled the company's license and the plant stopped operation in March last year. The company took the case to court and the Kerala High Court allowed the company to draw up to 500,000 liters of water per day in early April this year and asked the village to restore the license.

The sales of Coca-Cola in Kerala had dropped by 50 percent since the plant closed, a company official said.

The factory, having six bore wells and an open one, consumes 800,000 liters of drinking water per day.

Source: Xinhua