Double disregard

in a remarkable verdict, the Sindh High Court recently stopped multinational company Nestle from setting up a water extracting plant in Karachi's Gadap area for manufacturing bottled water for the us troops in Afghanistan. The plant would have led to depletion of the aquifer in the dry region, and caused acute water shortage for farmers as well as the "Education City' constructed there. Nestle had proposed an initial investment of us $10 million "followed by other products in future' and had got huge orders from a United Arab Emirates-based firm for exporting bottled water to us forces in Kandhar.

On November 30, 2004, the court ruled that Nestle "be restrained from raising any construction with a view to set-up and operate a bottled-water factory in Deh Chuhar area of Karachi, known as the