Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) chairman, Siddhesh Kadam’s surprise inspection of the Mercedes-Benz assembly plant at Chakan on Friday and subsequent issuance of a press release revealing the brand’s “non-compliance with environmental standards” have come under criticism from opposition leaders, who want an explanation from the pollution watchdog. After the surprise visit on Friday, the MPCB in a series of posts on ‘X’ and in the said press release issued through a private public relations (PR) firm, claimed that the German automaker’s plant is not adhering to pollution control guidelines which “is a significant concern and a deviation from what is expected from such a prestigious brand”. Following the Hindustan Times (HT) report on August 25, Shiv Sena (UBT) deputy leader and Rajya Sabha (RS) member Priyanka Chaturvedi on Sunday questioned the manner in which Siddhesh carried out the inspection at the Chakan plant, the announcement regarding which was made by the MPCB on ‘X’ only to be later deleted.
“Isn’t it important that the MPCB comes clean in what are its specific concerns with regard to the Mercedes plant? Is it another supari to drive away business from the state? If the concerns raised are genuine, why then were the tweets deleted and why is this not sent in?” Chaturvedi said in a post on ‘X’ tagging the HT report. Leader of the opposition in the state assembly, Vijay Wadettiwar, too, raised pressing questions about Siddhes.