Coke, Pepsi bottlers violated water laws, with help from government

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Editor's note: In Greater Noida, on the outskirts of the national capital, The Coca-Cola Company runs a “happiness factory”, a museum that celebrates the company and its iconic soft drink and offers an immersive experience to institutions and individuals through pre-booked tours. It features exhibits on Coke’s secret formula and even a drum kit from Coke Studio. Now, the Greater Noida “happiness factory” operates on the premises of an actual Coke bottling unit run by an Indian company called Moon Beverages Ltd. It uses borewells to pump out the water used for making the soft drinks. In a stinging order issued in late February, the National Green Tribunal has found little reason to be happy about this unit. It illegally used groundwater for at least two years—from 2018 to 2020 - at a time when the water table in the area was already critically low. The NGT order also finds similar illegalities committed by another Coca-Cola unit run by Moon Beverages in neighbouring Ghaziabad, and by a PepsiCo bottling unit run by Varun Beverages Ltd in Greater Noida. The units are located …