The initial response of both multinationals has been ambiguous. While Pepsi's official response has been that areas such as the affected Manali-Rohtang region are franchisee-owned where the corporate office has little control, Coca-Cola said that it is an extremely environment-conscious company, and what has happened seems to be a localized slip-up. Coca-Cola said it would ensure it wouldn't happen again.
Local authorities in the area where the advertisements appeared said it is hard to prevent the rock defacement because those responsible for such paintings work under cover of night, and it is difficult to patrol all regions of the vast mountains.
The practice of painting rocks with advertisements is also a source of anguish to geologists. If a geologist cannot observe and study rocky outcrops, there is little else that can be done to understand the geology of the area.
Ramesh Kakkar, chief of the Center for Advanced Study in Geology at Punjab University in Chandigarh, told The Indian Express: "If the outcrop has been painted over, we cannot conduct research."
The legal experts arguing the case said they planned to ask the National Environment Engineering Research Institute, based in Nagpur, Maharashtra, to inspect the rocks along the Manali-Rohtang road and assess the damage.
Experts say removing the paint from all the huge rocks with paint thinner or remover would be both costly and environmentally destructive. Left to nature, it could take five to ten years for the paint to wash off.
Varshney said he was pleased that the courts have taken seriously a matter that many people might regard as trivial and hoped it was a sign of greater government vigilance on environmental issues in the future. "Such defacing of rocks is not something restricted to the Himalayas in India. I have seen this across the country," he said. "In supporting the protection of nature in its original form, in whatever way possible, the courts have set a great precedent."
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