Bucket of paint in SC eyes

Desptie the Supreme Court’s order on defacing million-year-old precious rocks on the Manali-Rohtang highway with ads, despite notices b...

Desptie the Supreme Court’s order on defacing million-year-old precious rocks on the Manali-Rohtang highway with ads, despite notices being sent by the Forest Department and despite their own claims, Coca Cola India, Pepsi and MBD Books have rubbed it in, literally: they have begun slapping paint on the rocks to cover their brand names.

This, experts say, only causes further damage, delaying restoration by at least two decades and could be seen as an attempt to destroy evidence.

Following a report in The Sunday Express on August 11, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice B N Kirpal had on August 14 issued notices to the Centre, the Himachal Pradesh government, Coca Cola India Inc and Pepsi Foods Ltd returnable on Sept 2.


A coat of white paint covers a Coca Cola ad on a rock on the Manali-Rohtang highway. Swadesh Talwar

That order made it clear that the Nagpur-based National Environment Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) is ‘‘requested to inspect the stretch of the road betweeen Manali and Rohtang from the point of view of examining the damage to the ecology caused by the advertisements of Coca Cola and Pepsi and other similar activities carried out in the area and to suggest what remedial measures can be undertaken.’’

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And that ‘‘Pepsi Foods Ltd and Coca Cola India Inc should also show-cause as to why exemplary damages should not be imposed on them by reason of ecological/geological damage caused by the said advertisements.’’

Rather than wait for the NEERI report, about a third of the Coke ads which were painted along the 56-km long Manali-Rohtang Pass road have been smudged with yellow paint. Both the Pepsi ads have been painted white. Several MBD (Malhotra Book Depot) ads have been covered with a dirty brown, in an apparent bid to match the colour of the rocks.

Graffiti of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has been scraped at some places, chipping off the rock surface, and diluted at others with thinner but not completely wiped off.

Says O N Bhargav, former Director of the Geological Survey of India: ‘‘The fresh coat of paint is the worst thing to do. Left to nature, the painted surfaces would have been restored between 30 to 40 years from now. Now it will take perhaps 20 more.’’

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When contacted, Coke’s official spokesman in New Delhi denied any knowledge of the rocks being re-painted. And said: ‘‘In accordance with our global policy, since the case is under review of the highest court in the country, we cannot engage in any official comment.’’

‘‘We had sent our people to investigate and restore the rocks,’’ said Pepsi’s spokesperson, ‘‘our team found that it is not possible for us to do the same so we asked them to come back and not to tamper with the rocks.’’ ‘‘Now, we have got in touch with the ASI to help us with the restoration work,’’ he added.

When asked about the re-painting, Ashok Arora, General Manager, Dhillon Kool Drinks (Pepsi’s franchisee for the area), said: ‘‘I have no intimation on getting the place cleaned up.’’

Balwant Sharma, General Manager, Malhotra Book Depot, claimed the advertiser for the company had been instructed to get the rocks cleaned up. ‘‘He said the cleanup would begin that very day. They have done it already,’’ Sharma said.