Tawi riverbed hails consumers

Pre-historic rocks are tur ning out to be a favourite medium for companies to advertise on without any qualms. From the heights of Manali to...

Pre-historic rocks are tur ning out to be a favourite medium for companies to advertise on without any qualms. From the heights of Manali to the national highway that connects Jammu with Srinagar, it8217;s the same sordid story. And the same I-didn8217;t-do-it-first whitewash.

The evidence is strewn all around the 12-km Nagrota-Nandini stretch of the highway. Outer Himalaya8217;s Upper Shivalik range seems to be fair game. Almost the entire mountainside on this stretch has been painted. And visibility is all that matters 8212; while some of the ads are located deep in the forests, even the massive rocks in the Tawi riverbed at Nagrota call out to the consumer.

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8216;Ads quite old, no new plans8217;

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Bharat Petroleum: Territorial Manager Bhupinder Kumar: 8216;8216;If the paint, in any way, has an adverse impact on our environment, I assure you I will get it removed as soon as possible.8217;8217;

State Bank of India: Regional Manager A K Gupta says the bank8217;s ad appeared to be an old one. 8216;8216;The decision seemed to have been taken by someone at the branch level to attract Vaishno Devi pilgrims. The SBI does not subscribe to it; we are here to preserve environment and not to destroy it.8217;8217;

Pepsi: Marketing development coordinator Vaibhav Kohli not available for comments. Marketing executive Sandeepan says chemicals in paints don8217;t have any hazardous effect on rocks. Pepsi8217;s ads quite old and company has no fresh plans.

MBD Books: Distributor Gourav Mahajan says no one has got the right to deface natural beauty but painters came from head office in Jalandhar

Ambuja Cements: Distributor Rajneesh Sharma says work handled directly by the company but 8216;8216;agar painting hamse shuroo hui hai phir to koi baat anti hai. Yeh to barson se ho raha hai. Agar hamse koi kahega ki pathar pe paint nahin karna hai, to hum nahin karenge.8217;8217;

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Marvel Tea: Area sales manager R P Singh says 8216;8216;we paint our ads wherever we find space as it is an accepted rule in marketing that roadside ads enhance sales8217;8217;.

Relaxo Footwears: Distributors Ashwani Gupta and Rishi Gupta say the company was directly involved and they had no role.

Britannia: Distributor Ranjeet Choudhary also refers you to the company.

Exide Batteries: Distributor Sanjay Gupta refers you to the company

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GTC Industries: Senior officer coordination, J038;K, Mahinder Nijhawan claimed 8216;8216;we have stopped advertising our cigarettes at public places8217;8217;

The green and picturesque Shivalik range begins after Nagrota town, which is just 11 km from Jammu. On the NH after Nagrota are huge rocks on both sides.

Among the names clinging to these are 8212; Bharat Petroleum, State Bank of India, Pepsi, MBD Books, Britannia Biscuits, Exide Batteries, Panama Cigarettes, Ambuja Cements, Relaxo Footwears and Marvel Tea besides many others.

Four kilometres short of Nandini is a huge flat rock. Ambuja Cement has grabbed most of the area which it reluctantly shares with Bharat Petroleum, Exide Batteries and Britannia.

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Conservationists and scientists agree that all this is sheer barbarism and the damage inflicted is virtually irreversible. Dr Bal Krishan Kapai, a senior scientist at the Regional Research Laboratory, Jammu, who has studied Himalayana flora for more than 20 years, says paints destroy the algae, moss and lichens that grow in abundance on the rock surfaces.

8216;8216;Photosynthesis occurs on these rocks as at the base of the lichens grow fungus that absorb moisture. And once paint is applied, the lower plants can8217;t grow there and, hence, no photosynthesis.8217;8217;

R D Sharma, an environmental soil conservationist in the Department of Environment and Remote Sensing, Jammu, adds that 8216;8216;paint covers the porosity of rocks which in turn mars all chances of regeneration of lower plants and kills small insects too.8217;8217;

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EXPRESS EFFECT

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HC notice to govt, Pepsi

Acting on a PIL, the J038;K High Court on Monday issued notices to Pepsi, the state government, Departments of Forests, Pollution Control Board, Environment and Remote Sensing and 10 companies which have painted ads on pre-historic rocks in Jammu. Narinder Singh Raju read out the Indian Express story published in the Jammu edition on August 28 while filing the PIL.

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Former head of the Geology Department of Jammu University Prof B L Dhar points out that 8216;8216;the age of these rocks ranges from 0.1 million to 4.9 million years8217;8217;. And that they contain invaluable geological treasures which need to be protected.

8216;8216;All the ads on the rocks have been plastered illegally as the companies have not taken any permission from the forest department,8217;8217; fumes R D Tiwari, Chief Conservator of Forests. 8216;8216;Now when The Indian Express has taken up the matter with us, I will definitely take cognisance of it.8217;8217;

Describing it as a criminal act, he says: 8216;8216;It is like cutting into the interiors of the forests and I will try to stop it once and for all.8217;8217;