Manohar Lal Khattar wanted the environment minister to fast-track the grant of environmental clearances to 15 formaldehyde manufacturers operating without them for years, in clear violation of the law.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar lobbied environment minister Prakash Javadekar in March this year to quickly grant environment clearances to 15 companies which violated the environment clearance law and were, at the time, legally not eligible to receive clearance, official documents accessed exclusively by The Morning Context reveal.
The 15 companies for whom Khattar was batting are in the business of manufacturing formaldehyde, a carcinogenic chemical that serves, among other things, as the basic raw material for the plywood industry. The companies, located in Yamunanagar district of Haryana, apparently began operations from 2009 onwards without the mandatory environment clearance, …
Akshay is an investigative reporter and former writer at The Morning Context. Based in Delhi, he writes about the environment, public policy and economy from the lens of the pulls and pressures of an ambitious democracy. Akshay uses the right to information extensively for reporting stories of vital public interest. Over the past decade and more, he has worked for HuffPost India, Frontline, The Economic Times, Down To Earth and DNA.
akshay@mailtmc.com