RAPE OF THE "ROCK" CASE

Deccan Herald and The New Indian Express , 3^rd September 2002

The Supreme Court of India comprising Chief Justice B.N. Kripal, Justice K.Y Balkrishna and Justice Ajit Parsyat today in "Rape of the Rock Case" on the suggestion of Solicitor General Harish Salve appointed two members of the Central Empowered Committee consists of Environment Ministry Official M.K. Jiwrajka and advocate Mahendra Vyas for the spot assessment of the environmental damage done to Himalayas by advertisements of Pepsi and Coca Cola on age old rocks along with Manali-Rohtang Highway. The Committee has to submit its report in 10 days.

Earlier the National Environment Engineering Institute, Nagpur, failed to carry out the order of the Supreme Court of August 14 to inspect the defaced rocks. Inturn NEERi asked the court Registrar for mere information to make the necessary visit to the spot. So the Supreme Court recalled the earlier order and found this way.

The court ordered the giant companies Coco Cola and Pepsi to deposit Rs. 50,000 each within 3 days for the cost of the proposed inspection and also said that they could depute their representatives to accompany the committee.

The court said " we are going to impose exemplary costs on those who cause environment pollution by painting rock faces. Not only Pepsi and Coca Cola but it has been free-for-all to report to this type of advertisements".

The court asked both the companies to indicate manner in which they will remove the paintings. The court referring to pouring of white paints on the advertisements said that in the name of remaining the paintings further damage to ecology will not be permitted.It was pointed out to the court that Government of Himachal Pradesh had issued two orders on August 14 and August 21 directing both the companies to take steps for removal of the advertisements.

Mr. Harish Salve told the court that the paintings on the rock faces had put in peril the ecology of the area and in violation of provisions of various laws.

The rock faces are highly eco fragile and have a huge eco-system. There is moss that grows on the rocks.

There are also innumerable number of species of micro-organisms which are dependent on these rocks. These paintings are completely destroyed these species.

The court will hear the matter on September 16, 2002.

SC team finds evidence defaced, destroyed

Indian Express

A team deputed by the Supreme Court to check the progress on its September 2 order regarding the restoration of the painted rocks on the Manali-Rohtang road has found that machine tools have been used in more than half the cases to wipe out the paint.

The two member team also found that other rocks-million of years old and of ecological importance have got fresh coats of paint. It has submitted its report, including evidence in the form of pictures and stone chops, to the court, which will take it up on Monday.

The team was accompanied by Himachal Pradesh forest department officials and journalists of this paper. Local people said the chipping/grounding took place over a period of one week. On only one occasion did the officials act. On September 6^th, when forest range officer Rajeev Sharma caught three people in the Beas river bed in Manali on Sept. 6. He also seized a Tempo , fitted with a generator and a grinder, and handed it over tot he police. However, the police let them off, with the seized machine,s after overnight detention without even registering a case in spite of a written communication from the DFO, B.D. Suhel, Abhay Shukla, HP Secretary Environment and Forests, admitted that a mistake had been committed and said he would recommend action against the SHO of the Manali Police Station.

Apex Court Fines Coke, Pepsi, 10 others

The court-appointed committee comprising Environment Minsitry official M.K. Jiwrajka and advocate Mahendra Vyas, in their statement to the 'Indian Express' confimed that the companies had done further damage to the rocks while trying to erase the advertisements on them.

The committee stated that commercial vandalism in Kullu-Manali and the adjoining areas as well as in other parts of Himachal Pradesh by various business organisations violated the Forest Conservation Act 1980 and a Supreme Court order of 1996.

"No approval for use of Government property for commercial purposes has been obtained by the advertisements who had used crude process for painting their advertisements and caused irreparable damage to the fragile ecosystem", the committee said.

The ten other organisations which have been find are Malhotra Book Depot., Fena Detergent, Birla White Cement, State Bank of India, Slee Well Mattresses, Nestle India Ltd., and Annapurna Hotels.

The count also issued notices to some more organisations found to have indulged in "commercial vandalism" in the area and directed them to file replies by September 23.

IIT expert shows the eco-friendly way to save the fragile rocks.Sept. 18, 2002

The "sensitive eco-system and proximity to the river" should be considered during the operation", said, Prof. B.Pitchumani, Dept., of Chemical Engineering, IIT Delhi, in his report to the SC.

Prof. B. Ptchumani, who was on a SC environment team to inspect the painted rocks in Manali-Rohtang pass region, he commended laser technique or grit blast process for rock surfaces close tot he river, and chemcial methods for surfaces near the road and away from the river.

He said, "None of thse techniques are used in India. But if the removal process has to be eco-friendly, we have to go the American Way". He further said that "American environment bodies do a lot of research. There is sriousness on the issue in the land of Coke and Pepsi.

The grit blast method has been recommeded to "prevent debris or waste mixing with water. In this process a stream of high sped particles is directed towads the coated substrate and the paint is removed by mechanical method."

"The waste so generated is captured by a powerful vaccum system to prevent toxic residue from polluting the environment. The debris is passed through a filtering system in a closed loop", the report says.

The report oadds; "upon heating by a hot stream of air, the viscosity of the paint suddenly drops and the coat of paint is removed by pulling off the primer layer."

Each technique costs between a few thousand rupees to a few crores for a rock surface.

Kitschy ads deface B'lore rockscape as well Sept. 25,

Products ranging from Coramandal King Cement to Lunar rubber slippers have found full advertisment space on the rocks of National Highway 4 in Tumkur district.

The Supreme Court, while imposing fine on the Himachal Pradesh Government for allowing the commercial vandalism of the hills, also issued notice to the Advocate General of Karnatka to file a repsonse on the expert committee's findings of simlar advertisments near Bangalore.

The Geological survey of India, the State Department of Ecology, Environment and Forests, Karnatka State Pollution Control Board (KSPBC) and conservation group INTACH are all just waking upto the vandalism.

" I have seen all these advertisements on the way to Tumkur. I suppose the Government has to recover the cost from the people who did it and make them clean it up", said Mines and Geology Department director Basappa Reddy.

The apex court has also directed the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests to file an affidavit on the basis of survey conducted in all states to assess the extent of "such commercial vandalism."

"The first thing is to conduct a survey and then notices have to be served on the commercial establishments," said KSPCB Chairman Upendra Triapthi.

Onus of saving prized rocks in corporate hands, says greens Sept. 26

Advertisements have started screaming from rocky hillocks on the city's outskirts most visibly on the Mysore-Bangalore Highway and the Bangalore-Pune Highway. Reason enought to build a rock solid case against corporates, say experts.

"These corporates damage the natural environment, they take for granted the sate and the people," says Sairam Bhat, an environmental lawyer at the Centre for Environmental Law Education Research and Advocacy (CEERA), a wing of the National Law School of India University.

He further said, "coronates have a larger responsibility that they cannot violate in their functioning. They cannot violate the principles of sustainable development and natural justice".

A senior landscape artist and academician S. Mohan said, "The SC has interpreted this case (Rape of the Rock Case) as an activity that is destroying the natural beauty of the environment. It may not cause ecological damage in the true sense of the term, but it is still undesirable because it results in visual defacement".

Bhat says rocks and other natural clusters are seen as property of the state. "When a film poster is put up, permission has to taken from the Municipal corporation. But as these rocks are outside the city, no permission is required, so the corporates end up misusing nature," he says.

"The best bet at this juncture is to highlight the corporates' responsibility towards environmental management and put an end to these ads," Bhat says.

Bhat added, " It is difficult to put the onus on specific bodies under the present laws, so we would need a more Comprehensive Natural Resource Management Act".

SC to impose exemplary damages Sept. 27

The SC on Thursday said, while hearing the "Rape of the Rocks" case, that it would impose exemplary damages on delinquent firms over and above the Rs. 5 crore corpus already ordered by as "restoration costs".

It also called for other companies indulging in similar vandalism countrywide to be identified at the earliest and their share of the fine fixed. "The environment or the rocks cannot shout back, we are there to shout for them; Chief Justice B.N. Kripal, who headed the three-member bench, said.

Of the Rs. 5 crore corpus, Hiachal Pradesh Government has been asked to pay Rs. 1 crore Malhotra Book Depot., and Coca Cola Rs. 30 lakh each, Pepsi Rs. 15 lakh, Grasim and Fena Rs. 10. Lakh each, Amaraon batteries Rs. 2.5 lakh and SBI and Sleep well Rs. 1.25 lakh each.

In its third report, tabled on Thursday, the Court's Central Empowered Committee said of a total of 180 sites in Kullu-Manali area, 168 had suffered irreparable damage by eight large companies and 20 small companies.

Arun Jaitely, representing Pepsi, said these acts of vandalism were carried out by the bottlers or franchisees of the soft drinks in charge of ads for their region. "They worked independently, and hence the principal company should not be made to pay for their damages, " he said.

Same old story in Manali, more bad news from elsewhere Sept. 27

On Thursday, the SC is likely to take up the recommendations of Harish Salve, amicus curiae in the 'rape of the rocks' case, on the share of each offending party in the Rs. 4 crore fine. Salve will find it tough to quantify each party's guilt, simply because the evidence has be scraped off .

Meanwhile, the bad news rolls in from elsewhere:

Pune: Senapati Bapat Road

Two decade ago, when a hill was not through to make a road, it yield 60 million year old Deccan trap rocks on either side and a geological wonder: A lava tunnel, located right in the middle of a busy city. Now all are adored with ads for exide and everedy to RWP Marine Plywood.

After the SC order, Pune DFO Anurag Chowdhury sent an interim reply to State Principal Chief Conservator of Forests pointing to the isntances of defacements within the city; soon, notices will be issued to them.

Rishikesh

The list likely to be presented to the SC on Thursday from Uttaranchal will include not only multinationals or corporates but also messages painted by the Forest Department and by the Border Roads organization on mountain rocks in and around Rishikesh

Scenic Gujarat highway waits for SC ruling to travel down October 2^nd 2002

The rocks of Idar are the pride of Gujarat. Renounced photographer Ashwin Mehta paid tribute to these in black and white in his world famous book 'Gifts of Solitude'.

But now names of local advertising agencies, cement and toothpaste companies and underwear brands painted in large, garish letters on rocks on both sides of the Idar-Khedbrahma State highway.

Director of Environmental Sciences Dept., Gujarat University, Dr. Y.K. Agarwal said, "Due to layers of paint on the rocks, these heat up very fast and some fragile rocks are breaking. Besides, many of these rocks have crevices through which very small natural streams flow, which we believe are now contaminated at various places due to the toxic compounds which flow during the rains.

Sabarkantha District Collector Avinash Joshi says they can't do much as the rocks are the private property of the erstwhile prince of Idar, Rajendrashinh Rathore, and not under the administration.