A dirty picture

There are many reasons companies choose to change their names but a senior bureaucrat in Gujarat discovered a truly unique reason. The case in point is the waste management outfit Narmada Clean Tech Ltd, of which the bureaucrat is a board member. Initially called Bharuch Eco Aqua Infrastructure Ltd, its chief demanded a new name. Why? It turned out that for some time, treated effluent from the outfit would be disposed of in a natural creek called Amlakhadi leading to the Narmada estuary. Thanks to the effluent, the local people began to call it the “gandaa (dirty) canal”, and as a result, the officer in charge was called “gandaa canal saab”. Since nobody would want such an appellation, the officer was keen that the company got a new identity.