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SJM takes up cudgels against soft drinks

Special Correspondent

Activists empty Coca Cola and Pepsico bottles into drain

DOWN THE DRAIN: Activists of Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) emptying cool drinks into a drain in Tirupati on Saturday. — Photo: K.V. Poornachandra Kumar.

TIRUPATI: A day after the Supreme Court issued notices to Cola majors to disclose the contents in their soft drinks, following a PIL that it contained toxic elements, the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, the Swadeshi arm of the BJP has on Saturday taken up a campaign against the Colas.

As part of what they called an awarreness programme to expose the harmful effects of the soft drinks among the public, the SJM activists, on Saturday emptied bottles of Coca Cola and Pepsico into a huge drainage. The demonstrators led by Akula Krishna Kishore, State secretary of the Manch, cleaned gutters at the Saraswathi Sishu Mandir here with cola drinks amid sloganeering.

In a brief address later, the SJM leader alleged that though the sale of Cola drinks is banned in Delhi and Mumbai, the State Government is still dragging its feet on the issue. The leaders also criticised the alleged attitude of the Government to appease the MNCs through fabulous rebates and concessions at the cost of the impoverished farmers who are in need of subsidies and relief packages. On the occasion, the SJM also released pamphlets in Telugu, which highlight the harmful effects of the soft drinks, and also how in the United States, toothpaste companies are required to print the composition prominently on the tubes. The pamphlet also carried a slogan saying that people would do well to spend Rs.5/- on the mineral-rich tender coconut water than wasting Rs.10/- on dangerous soft drinks.

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