Nothing official about it

cola giant , Pepsi, has been accused of flouting environmental laws by undertaking commercial produc-tion at Jhagadia Industrial Estate and discharging 'hazardous effluents' into the Narmada. The company, however, contends that it had only undertaken a 'trial production'.

Threatening to boycott Pepsi products in the state, a host of Gujarat's environmental bodies, which include Narmada Pradushan Nivaran Samiti ( npns ) and Manviya Technology Forum ( mtf ), charge that Pepsi is flouting restrictions imposed by the state's pollution control board. Pepsi's corporation communications vice-president, Deepak Jolly, said that Pepsi had gone in for only a trial production in Jhagadia Industrial Estate and that no commercial production has been undertaken."

In April this year, Pepsi had been notified by the Gujarat Pollution Control Board ( gpcb ) not to start production until the proposed effluent treatment and disposal scheme was commissioned in order to effect proper discharge.