May 13: The acronym USA on sundry labels, `Made in USA' has two connotations: Legitimately, United States of America, or, in the street lingo of Mumbai, Ulhasnagar Sindhi Association. Now, the honourable members of this body have taken grave objections to the unkind pun.

To begin with the basics, they say there is no such association, and also insist there is no imitation industry working overtime to churn out clones of popular brands in Ulhasnagar either. In fact, former president of the Ulhasnagar Municipal Council, Prahlad H Advani, sees a political conspiracy in it. ``Since the community members are still looked upon as refugees and they lack a political base, everybody feels free to take liberties with them.''

Politics apart, the industrious business community of Ulhasnagar, though not known for its image consciousness, is worried about the impact of this ``misinformation campaign,'' for which they blame ``vested interests'' and ``media.'' They met at `Mirpuri Ashram', Punjabi Colony on Sunday to voice their concern. The immediate provocation was a news report appearing in a section of press that a major biscuit manufacturer had filed a suit before the Delhi high court alleging that some manufacturers and traders were selling biscuits under trade marks either identical or similar to its premium brands. One of the reports described Ulhasnagar as `a locality notorious in Mumbai for manufacturing duplicate or counterfeit goods of any popular brand, whether national or international.'

The meeting took a serious note of such generalisations. While admitting that some units in Ulhasnagar do manufacture counterfeit goods, speakers were at pains to explain that Ulhasnagar has also been credited with manufacture of some quality products.

Advani, meanwhile has threatened to serve a legal notice to the newspapers that carried the report. He has demanded an unconditional apology within a week.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.