Rajasthan bans soft drinks in edu institutions

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan government on Friday banned all brands of soft drinks including Pepsi and Coke in educational institutions across the state with immediate effect, after a Delhi-based NGO's findings about high level of pesticide residues in colas.

The ban would continue on sale and consumption of these products inside the campuses of schools, colleges, and universities (also private and semi-aided) unless the courts dealing with such cases declared them fit for consumption, Education Minister G S Tiwari said after a high-level meeting of concerned departments here.

Since a number of cases related to "adulterated" soft drinks were pending in the courts and the multi-national companies running their plants had not put even a label on the bottles and cans, it was necessary to ban these "dangerous products for health of human beings," Tiwari said.