Expert defends Plachimada report

TPURAM: Ecologist S. Faizi, who was a member of the high-power committee on Plachimada, said here yesterday that the committees report was built on robust data, meticulously gathered from numerous research studies conducted in the area by different agencies and scholars at various points of time. Taking objection to the contention of Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages that the report was based on an �unproven assumption that the company had caused environmental damage in Plachimada, Dr. Faizi said in a statement that the voluminous data established the depletion of groundwater and its pollution, besides extensive heavy metal pollution of the soil.