September 17, 2002	Tuesday	Rajab 9, 1423

NEW DELHI, Sept 16: India’s supreme court on Monday fined cola majors Pepsi and Coca Cola as well as 10 other companies for painting adverts on ecologically sensitive rock faces along a stretch of highway through the spectacular Himalayan ranges.

A three-judge bench ordered the two cola companies to deposit 200,000 rupees (4,000 dollars) each, while the other companies were asked to pay 100,000 rupees each within 48 hours towards the cost of repairing the damage.

The court also directed a committee set up to report on the damage to shoot a video of the area to assess how much work needed to be done.

“No approval for use of government property for commercial purposes has been obtained by the advertisers who had used a crude process for painting their advertisements and caused irreparable damage to the fragile ecosystem,” the committee told the court in a report.

The 10 other companies hauled up include Malhotra Book Depot, Fena Detergent, Birla White Cement, State Bank of India, Sleepwell Mattresses, Nestle India Ltd and Annapurna Hotels.

Both cola companies said they would heed the court order.

“Whatever is the court order, we will abide by this,” a PepsiCo India spokesman said.

Coca Cola India’s spokesman echoed the line, saying: “We will go by the court order.”

The Supreme Court had issued notices to the two cola majors after being alerted by a report in the Indian Express newspaper which said the advertisements had put at risk the ecosystem of the mossy rocks teeming with micro-organisms.

The paintings were made on a 56-kilometre (36-mile) stretch of highway on the spectacular Manali-Rohtang pass in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh.

Both companies had earlier claimed the paintings were done by local franchisees without their knowledge and that they were taking steps to rectify the damage.

Local experts said the beautiful Himalayan ranges were increasingly being hit by pollution and commercialism.

“It is no exaggeration to describe the Rohtang Pass as the second most polluted spot in the Himalayas after South Kol (the base camp in Nepal for Mount Everest),” said B.S. Malhans, a member of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH).—AFP