Sangareddy villagers protest Formaldehyde plant, cite health hazards and flawed EIA
HYDERABAD: A proposed chemical plant in Maldapally village, Nyalkal Mandal, Sangareddy, is at the centre of an environmental and public health dispute. Villagers and civil society groups allege that project proponents and authorities have downplayed the plant’s hazards, intimidated activists, and submitted an inadequate Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report.
At the heart of the dispute is the project by Sreeasha Aldehydes and Adhesives Pvt. Ltd., which plans to manufacture 6,000 tonnes per month of formaldehyde and 3,500 tonnes of aldehyde-based resins. Villagers from Malda and nearby areas, supported by the Telangana People’s Joint Action Committee (TPJAC), have submitted memoranda to the Chief Secretary and District Collector, demanding the rejection of the project.
The most serious allegation is deliberate misrepresentation of the project. Villagers and the TPJAC claim local officials, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), are telling the public it is just a plywood factory. The EIA report, however, confirms it is a chemical plant handling formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, and other hazardous substances.
“Portraying it as a plywood unit is jeopardising the health and livelihoods of the people. This misinformation is being spread to bypass public opposition,” TPJAC co-convenor Kanneganti Ravi warned that such tactics undermine constitutional rights to information and life (Articles 19(1)(a) and 21).
The TPJAC has raised concerns about the pre-public hearing atmosphere. They allege that the police are warning their activists that explaining the misleading and incomplete EIA report to villagers amounts to acting against the government.
“There are strong suspicions that during the public hearing, people will be restricted, subjected to fear, and prevented from speaking freely. This is the only opportunity to register objections. Obstructing this is environmental injustice,” said the committee’s convenor, Professor G. Haragopal.
Manjeera River pollution
The villagers’ memorandum points to glaring omissions in the EIA, especially cross-border negligence. The plant’s 10-km impact zone includes villages in Karnataka’s Bidar district, including Bidar town. However, the EIA contains no baseline studies (air, water, soil, noise) or public consultation for these areas. “This not only violates international human rights but also raises serious doubts about the integrity of the EIA process,” the villagers said in their representation.
A review of the plant layout shows hazardous units (formaldehyde plant, resin plant, methanol storage, boiler) clustered closely, violating minimum safety distances. “If any fire or chemical accident occurs, there is a high risk of it spreading to the entire plant,” the representation warns, invoking the Bhopal tragedy.
Compounding this risk is the remote location, with no hospital offering emergency care within 30 km and no fire station within 50 km. “Allowing a plant handling highly dangerous, explosive chemicals here is playing with people’s lives,” it adds.
Furthermore, the plant’s wastewater, chemical leaks, and accidental runoff threaten the Manjeera River basin and groundwater. The Manjeera is a critical drinking water and irrigation source for millions. “A threat to it is a threat to the livelihoods of the people,” said Kanneganti Ravi.
Villagers express their fury, calling the 6000 TPM plant “not development, but a weapon of mass destruction.” They highlight the carcinogenic nature of formaldehyde, citing WHO standards meant for 8-hour occupational exposure, not the 24-hour exposure faced by infants, the older people, and pregnant women nearby.
“The Sigachi industrial accident in our own district is a recent bitter experience. If we do not learn lessons and allow another dangerous plant, it will lead to another tragedy,” the villagers’ petition states, demanding a new, comprehensive EIA and strict enforcement of safety norms.
An analysis of incidents at similar resin plants across the world shows a clear pattern. Over the decades, there have been runaway reactions, cooling system failures, and inadequate relief systems. Human error played a big role too. These issues often led to toxic releases and community evacuations. Villagers now demand safeguards such as explosion-proof engineering, interlock systems, real-time monitoring, and robust public evacuation plans as non-negotiable prerequisites, which they say are missing from the current proposal.
