Maharashtra pollution board’s deleted tweet on visit to ‘Non Compliant’ Mercedes Benz plant leaves people thinking

Meanwhile, officials of the Mercedes Benz said they did not receive any written notice or formal request from the MPCB chairman describing the claimed violation.

The tweet talked about the visit of chairman Siddhesh Kadam to the facility accompanied by a group of people.

“Mercedes Benz is in its 30th year of operations in India, with state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Chakan in its 15th year of operations, which is a benchmark in automotive manufacturing in India. The company sets high priority to adhere to the most stringent global standards in production quality, to uphold high environment and sustainability practices and to comply to mandatory regulations and requirements. We are ready to cooperate with the authorities and present all the required processes and documentations and take any corrective actions if required,” the statement from the company read.

Chakan, which is in the Khed taluka of Pune district, is the hub of automotive giants. Dr Amol Kolhe, the local MP, raised questions about the visit and also the tweet which was deleted. “It raises many questions on whether the visit was serious or not. Chakan does not have an Effluent Treatment Plant and the pollution in the Indrayani River is still not tackled. We would like to know the motive behind the visit and the issues the chairman of MPCB has found out,” he said.