On September 23, the Supreme Court passed slapped a Rs 5-crore punitive fine on several corporates, including MNCs Coke and Pepsi, for defacing rocks along the Manali-Rohtang road in Himachal Pradesh. This is being seen as a landmark in environmental advocacy on two counts: the court has recognised and reaffirmed the polluter-pays principle, and has done so in record time. For, it’s been a little over a month since the court first took note of a story called ‘Rape of the Rock’, published in The Sunday Express on August 11, and ordered immediate restoration work. In the intervening weeks, this paper has brought to light similar examples from other parts of the country, and also reported on how the court’s order was being wrongly implemented. The key dates in the case so far:August 14: Taking up the issue suo motu, the Supreme Court issues notices to Coke, Pepsi, and others. Solicitor-general Harish Salve, amicus curiae in the case, asks that the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute be asked to inspect the stretch of road and suggest remedial measures.August 22: The Indian Express reports (‘Bucket of paint in SC eyes’) on how, without waiting for the NEERI report and recommendations, the ads were being ‘removed’ by being painted over. Some signs had been painted dirty brown to match the colour of the rocks. Both Coke and Pepsi denied that they were involved in the cover-up.August 23: It’s not just Himachal. The rocks in Jubilee Hills, near Hyderabad, have fared no better — and they’re several billion years old, says an Express report. They’ve been painted over with slogans and signs of a local housing company and the film industry.Saying NEERI has let it down by its inaction, the Supreme Court appoints a three-member team — comprising a technocrat, an advocate and an IIT professor — to assess the damage and suggest remedial measures.September 3: From Hyderabad, back up north to Jammu and Kashmir. A report ‘Tawi riverbed hails consumers’ in Express details how rocks on a 12-km stretch of the Jammu-Srinagar highway were defaced. Some of the ads were located deep inside the forest, others on the rocks in the river-bed.September 10-12: The Supreme Court’s team of experts visits the site to check on the progress made on the restoration of the rocks.September 15: An Express team that accompanies the panel reports on how the damage has been compounded by sawing, shearing off the parts of the rocks that were painted over. The report quotes locals as saying all the chipping/grinding activity took place over one week.September 16: Supreme Court orders the MNCs to pay Rs 2 lakh each towards cost of filming the damage, other offenders are levied smaller amounts.September 23: A landmark order by the Supreme Court sees MNCs fined Rs 4 crore, HP government Rs 1 cr. The Centre is asked to identify similar vandalism in other states. Also, the Court says its empowered committee can now get complaints from across the country.If you come across any similar example of environmental damage in your neighbourhood or any public place, write to raperock@expressindia.com
