Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 23 (IANS) Pro-Left organisations Saturday stepped up attacks on godowns stocking cola products across Kerala.

Pro-Left activists destroyed almost half the Pepsi cola stocks in a godown here and attacked lorries ferrying Coca-Cola stocks, even as the Kerala government decided to challenge a court decision lifting the ban on the sale of colas in the state.

Around 50 members of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), ransacked the PepsiCo godown opposite the CPI-M district office.

According to eyewitnesses, close to 50 percent of the stocks were destroyed by the activists. The police arrived late and by that time the DYFI activists had dispersed. No arrests have been made.

When reports of this attack were flashed on TV channels, suspected DYFI activists Saturday evening barged into godowns at Kozhikode in north Kerala and inflicted heavy damage by destroying cola products.

In Palakkad, activists attacked around eight lorries that had come to lift stocks from the Coca-Cola unit there and smashed their windscreens.

In another incident at Palakkad, activists of the Communist Party of India and their youth wing tried to barge into the Pepsi factory there, but were prevented by the police.

The ire of the pro-Left organisations comes a day after the Kerala High Court lifted the Aug 10 ban imposed by the government on the production and sale of colas in Kerala.

Speaking to reporters here, state Law Minister M. Vijayakumar said the government was surprised by the verdict.

"It is rather strange and surprising how the court could come out with such a verdict. There was no lapse on the part of the state government. We will go for an appeal. Even though a new legislation would take time we have decided to amend Section 7 (1) of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA) soon," said the minister.

In its judgement, the court observed that a ban could be effected only by the central government and the state government had no right to do so.

Reacting to the attacks, Pepsi officials here said that they view the attacks seriously and they would have no other option but to approach the court against this unlawful act.

State Congress president Ramesh Chennithala told reporters near Alappuzha that all this has happened because of the hasty decision taken by the government to ban the sale and production of cola products.

"We are for the ban of these products, but the state government has made a mess of it by not doing its homework. It should have been done more carefully and we would extend all support to the government for this," he said.