The Coca-Cola India Foundation Brings Drinking Water Access to Ayodhya Through New Water ATMs
Each Water ATM is directly connected to the Nagar Nigam municipal supply and supported by overhead storage tanks to ensure continuity. The water passes through Reverse Osmosis (RO) filtration and is stored in stainless steel chilled tanks and dispensed through hygienic public taps mounted on the kiosk exteriors—offering easy access to clean drinking water throughout the day for residents and visitors alike.
Rajiv Gupta, Director, The Coca-Cola India Foundation, said, "Access to drinking water is a fundamental pillar of public health and community well-being. Our partnership with Ayodhya Nagar Nigam and the SM Sehgal Foundation is a strategic initiative that demonstrates our commitment to help improving water accessibility in the region through better infrastructure and local collaboration."
Anjali Makhija, Trustee and CEO, S M Sehgal Foundation said, "Water is vital, and through our collaboration with Anandana, The Coca-Cola India Foundation, we help create solutions for communities. The installation of water ATMs in Ayodhya marks a significant step towards ensuring access to hydration, especially in a city that welcomes millions of pilgrims and visitors each year."
Santosh Sharma, Municipal Commissioner, Ayodhya Nagar Nigam said, "This initiative underscores the positive role of public-private partnerships in enhancing urban infrastructure. Together with Coca-Cola India Foundation, we're addressing the need for reliable drinking water across key areas in Ayodhya, benefiting both residents and visitors. By strengthening the city's water access, this effort is a crucial part of our broader commitment to improving civic amenities and ensuring a sustainable, community-centered development."
This latest initiative builds on the foundation's legacy of water stewardship. Through initiatives like Project Jaldhara, Anandana and the SM Sehgal Foundation have implemented water conservation and access projects across several water-stressed regions including Kolar in Karnataka, Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh, and Aurangabad in Maharashtra. These efforts have included check dam construction, desilting of traditional tanks, and decentralized drinking water systems that have directly benefitted over a million people across India.
In Ayodhya, this effort continues that journey—supporting local governance, easing pressure on existing infrastructure, and enabling safe water access for all, regardless of background or status.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Mint
25-07-2025
- Mint
Coca-Cola: The surreal thing is actually its brand appeal
Mint Editorial Board Sweet success for The Coca-Cola Company needn't be about sugar sources, or even health addressal, so long as its popular fizzy-drink brand's marketers keep its target market well engaged. It's why Trump's cane nudge didn't make its stock budge. What keeps Coca-Cola cool under pressure is also the real secret of its success: brand power. Gift this article The Coca-Cola Company, based in the US, saw its stock shrug off the cost impact of a revised sweetener plan revealed this week. Earlier too, its share price had been flat after President Donald Trump posted that he'd been 'speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL cane sugar in Coke" in America; it had agreed, he said, and was thankful. As the company told investors a few days later, it plans to launch a cane variant of its fizzy drink this autumn as an extra choice. The Coca-Cola Company, based in the US, saw its stock shrug off the cost impact of a revised sweetener plan revealed this week. Earlier too, its share price had been flat after President Donald Trump posted that he'd been 'speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL cane sugar in Coke" in America; it had agreed, he said, and was thankful. As the company told investors a few days later, it plans to launch a cane variant of its fizzy drink this autumn as an extra choice. This leaves space for business as usual; specifically, for cheaper corn syrup to remain its US bulge-bracket sweetener. It also tips this legendary brand into a swirl of political intrigue. Just recently, Trump's health secretary talked about the risks of corn syrup, all but calling it toxic. Also Read: Bring back The Zing Thing, Coca-Cola In the land famed for its free market, we thus have the spectacle of a nudge that has stunned corn farmers, left folks puzzled over how cane sugar is any better, and prompted critics of the White House to link it with the alleged sway held by a rich sugarcane lobby, one that's happy with sugar prices kept high by an import-tariff shield, but may have spied a sweeter pile of profit in a public sales prod. America is no stranger to dirigiste detours, especially in its farm sector. This intervention, however, is directed at America Inc. Stakeholders include Warren Buffett and perhaps also his fan base of value investors. In symbolic terms, cola market distortion is a blow to the myth of US capitalism being too deeply dug in to display Soviet characteristics. Admittedly, it's not command-and-control. To Coca-Cola's credit, its words betray no hint of giving up its focus on sugar reduction across its beverage portfolio, as shelf offtake dictates and healthy intake demands. So its steady stock can be explained by an impact that's expected to be too soft to disturb a business boasting of a 3% dividend yield. Arguably, though, what keeps Coca-Cola cool under pressure is also the real secret of its success: brand power. That this cola's effect on taste buds was only a minor factor hit home in 1985, thanks to its New Coke fiasco. This was a sweeter version formulated to take on its zesty rival Pepsi, a move it had to reverse in response to a rebellion among Coke loyalists, as Mark Pendergrast tells the tale in For God, Country and Coca-Cola (1993). The company's taste research with blindfold tests was promptly binned for a return to its classic formula—marketed as 'The Real Thing." Also Read: Mint Explainer: Campa Cola and the power of nostalgia Many suspect Coca-Cola's flip-flop was a marketing stunt, which the business denies. If it was a lesson, it's a valuable one. Think of dreams. Even if they engage all five of our senses, we usually recall them as audio-visual. All dream-sellers know this, but Coca-Cola has a special edge in its mass outreach. As a brand, the aural and cursive appeal of its label has no parallel. It rolls easily off the tongue, thanks to four easy syllables—with the curvy letters of each appearing to blend into a flowing sea of red. So familiar is it, that it breezily passes the mirror test: One can 'read' its lateral inversion in a flash. Such brand appeal is an enviable asset, for it frees the cola formula for strategic tweaks in the larger quest to serve an evolving market. Sugar is all but irrelevant. So long as the brand's marketers can creatively keep its target audience engaged by putting a dream—rather than just a soda can—within an 'arm's reach of desire,' to echo an internal slogan, The Coca-Cola Company could surf the frothy waves of a sugar shake-up. It's a real asset. Topics You May Be Interested In
Time of India
22-07-2025
- Time of India
Early rains, Pak conflict hit Coke's India biz: CEO
Bottles of Coca-Cola are displayed at a grocery store in Mount Prospect, Ill., Thursday, July 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) MUMBAI: The onset of early monsoons and the India-Pakistan conflict weighed on beverage giant Coca-Cola's growth in the June quarter in India, one of its key its earnings statement on Tuesday, the US-based company said that consolidated unit case volume declined by 1% as growth in Central Asia, Argentina, and China was more than offset by declines in India, alongside Mexico and Thailand. Unit case factors in the total number of unit cases of beverages sold by the company and its bottling and June, which are typically the peak summer months in India, are crucial for companies with a strong portfolio of summer products such as Coca-Cola, as they account for a bulk of most of their sales. The monsoon hit Kerala on May 24, eight days ahead of its normal arrival date of June 1, the earliest onset since 2009, hitting summer sales."In India, after a strong start to the year, volume declined as our business was impacted by early monsoons and geopolitical conflict early in the important summer season. In response, we are engaging consumers with integrated marketing campaigns," said James Quincey, chairman & CEO at The Coca-Cola Company during a post-earnings analyst call. Quincey said that the India-Pakistan conflict, though brief, added to growth woes, but did not elaborate on the firm's India unit did not respond to impact of the conflict, which lasted a few days in early May, was largely limited to parts of border regions including Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, and Punjab. Coca-Cola has been ramping up its distribution in smaller towns and rural the scourge of climate change becomes more intense, the company has also been betting on an all-weather strategy. "In India, it is never going to be a straight line and Q2 was not, but we are very bullish on India overall," Quincey said. Coca-Cola will focus on marketing and innovation to gain share in India. The appointment of a new CEO in its local bottling unit, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, should also bring new energy, dynamism, and focus to the execution, the company said.
United News of India
17-07-2025
- United News of India
Trump says Coca-Cola agrees to switch back to real cane sugar in Coke
New York, July 17 (UNI) Atlanta-based soft drink giant The Coca-Cola Company will switch back to real cane sugar in its namesake soda, Coke, within the United States, U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday on social media. "I have been speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so," Trump said on Truth Social. "We appreciate President Trump's enthusiasm for our iconic Coca-Cola brand. More details on new innovative offerings within our Coca-Cola product range will be shared soon," said a brief statement by Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola adopted high-fructose corn syrup in the 1980s in a cost-cutting effort. It was reported that the change in ingredients would reduce the shelf life of Coke and increase manufacturing costs. The use of sweeteners such as high-fructose corn syrup has been criticized by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Currently, Coca-Cola offers a cane sugar version of its soda known as "Mexican Coke" in the United States. UNI XINHUA RKM
