The issue came under the spotlight after millions of people shared the viral music video 'Kodaikanal Won’t'.
Hindustan Unilever has settled with 591 former workers from its thermometer factory in Kodaikanal after a 15-year-campaign by workers and supporters, according to a press release on kodaimercury.com.
The company has signed a settlement with Pond's HLL ex-Mercury Employees Welfare Association, representing the former employees thermometer factory, HUL said in a statement.
"The Memorandum of Settlement reached was recorded in an order passed by the Madras High Court. The settlement has been entered into on humanitarian considerations to put an end to this long standing matter pending in the Court for several years and also is in keeping with the suggestion of the high court," HUL said. This agreement was signed on March 4, 2016 in the presence of representatives of former workers and HUL, it added.
The issue came under the spotlight after millions of people shared the viral music video 'Kodaikanal Won’t' and more than 150,000 people in over 100 countries petitioned. “The much-delayed settlement is great news, but Unilever still has unfinished business in Kodaikanal. You can expect a high-decibel global campaign in the coming months to ensure that Unilever cleans up its mercury contaminated site in Kodaikanal to international standards,” said Nityanand Jayaraman, a Chennai-based writer and activist who has been part of the campaign since 2001.
As per the terms and conditions of the agreement, HUL will provide ex gratia payments to 591 former workers and their families towards livelihood enhancement projects and skill enhancement programmes. The ex workers will also withdraw the petition they had filed in February 2006 before in the High Court. However, the company has not disclosed the amount on which it has negotiated the settlement.
The battle isn’t over. Unilever is insisting on leaving up to 25 milligrams/kg of mercury in soil – 250 times higher than naturally occurring background levels — even after clean-up. According to activists, that is very lax compared to global standards and will harm the environment. The factory is located on a ridge surrounded by the densely forested Kodaikanal Wildlife Sanctuary.
“With its refusal to clean up Kodaikanal as it would a site in the United Kingdom, Unilever is begging for another global campaign, and we are happy to oblige,” said Shweta Narayan, an activist with The Other Media.
“People power works. That’s the key lesson we’re drawing from today’s big announcement. We’ll continue to lift up the hundreds of thousands of voices who have joined this campaign since last July to ensure that Unilever now cleans up its mercury mess in Kodaikanal,” said Rachita Taneja of public mobilisation group Jhatkaa.org.
HUL has been engaging with former workers' representatives for several years now, on the advice of the High Court. In last two years, the company has had several meetings with the representatives to resolve this issue.
The former workers of the thermometer factory had approached the High Court in February 2006 seeking economic rehabilitation. It was filed more than four years after HUL had made a full and final settlement in November 2001.
With PTI inputs
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 "Kodaikanal Won't, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), mercury poisoning, Kodaikanal Wildlife Sanctuary,Nityanand Jayaraman")
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