Shruti Sneha, Pune
The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) issued a show-cause notice to Mercedes-Benz for alleged environmental norms violations at its Chakan plant. Officials from the board confirmed this.
The notice came on Friday, nearly a month after MPCB Chairman Siddhesh Kadam visited the plant. The delay between inspection and notice has also raised questions, with opposition leaders calling for the deletion of social media posts announcing the visit by the board which has already come in for much flak from the opposition leaders.
The notice issued has highlighted various environment-related issues at the plant pertaining to degrading effluent discharge, partly treated effluent discharge, and air pollution, besides failure to install equipment as and when required with modern waste treatment techniques. An advisory note has been issued to Mercedes-Benz to respond back within 15 days, failing which the MPCB would be compelled to take stringent legal action against the company under the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
Mercedes-Benz India said it has received the notice. The company said in a statement that they will go through it and respond as they have been requested, and cooperate with the authorities.
MPCB Pune regional officer JS Salunkhe confirmed that a notice was issued following the inspection of the plant conducted on August 23 and September 4. Salunohe said that the plant has failed to comply with the conditions applicable after the Board’s consent, and that there is discharge of ‘untreated and partially treated effluent and air emissions’ into the surrounding environment, thereby causing pollution.
During the inspections, it was found that clarifiers and centrifuges forming part of the Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) of the plant were not in operation. Also, the equipment, namely, MEE and ATFD, to treat RO reject was not installed on time, it was established by the officials of MPCB.
Earlier, it was the opposition who had questioned the process the MPCB was adopting in this matter and demanded increased transparency. The board had earlier made postings on X (formerly Twitter), after the inspection of August 23, wherein it said the Mercedes Benz Chakan plant was not following the pollution control guidelines set. The posts later went missing. Now it remains a riddle why the posts were deleted.
When approached, MPCB chairman Siddhesh Kadam said that he was not aware of the notice being served and would check with the regional office.