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Monday, February 21, 2011

Environment ministry lifts ban on projects in 8 critically polluted areas

Monday, 21 Feb 2011

The Indian ministry of environment and forests has lifted the moratorium on developmental projects in eight more critically polluted areas. However, it asked respective state governments and pollution control boards to adhere to strict implementation of action plan to contain pollution.

The eight critically polluted areas are
1. Ludhiana (Punjab)
2. Varanasi-Mirzapur (Uttar Pradesh)
3. Agra (Uttar Pradesh)
4. Bhavnagar (Gujarat)
5. Cuddalore (Tamil Nadu)
6. Dombivalli (Maharashtra)
7. Aurangabad (Maharashtra)
8. Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra).

It decided to lift the moratorium on the recommendations of the Central Pollution Control Board.

The ministry had earlier said the moratorium would be in place until action plans were prepared by the state governments concerned to deal with pollution, these action plans were reviewed by the CPCB, the state governments revised the action plans based on the CPCB review, and the process of implementing the revised action plans began and the state pollution control board concerned and CPCB certified in writing that this process had indeed begun and implementation was being monitored systematically.

In January 2010, the ministry had imposed the moratorium on environmental clearance for new projects (and expansions) in 43 critically polluted industrial clusters to stimulate environmental remediation/mitigation activities by industry and by the state governments concerned.

These 43 clusters are part of the 88 important industrial clusters where the CPCB had carried out a comprehensive environmental assessment in 2009.

The report, released on December 24, 2009, was based on the Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index developed by a number of academic institutions, led by IIT, Delhi, which were also associated with the field-level assessments. Of the 88 industrial clusters, 43 were identified as critically polluted, where the CEPI score was 70 or more.

Based on the recommendations of the CPCB, the ministry had lifted the moratorium in five areas on October 26, 2010. These were Patancheru-Bollarum (Andhra Pradesh), Tarapur (Maharashtra), Mandi- Gobindgarh (Punjab), Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) and Vapi (Gujarat).

The ministry said the process of verification of implementation of action plans in another 25 critically polluted areas was under way and it was expected to be completed in the next three to four weeks. Moreover, revised action plans for five critically polluted areas Korba (Chhattisgarh), Bhiwadi, Jodhpur and Pali (Rajasthan) and Najafgarh Drain Basin, including Anand Parbat, Naraina, Okhla and Wazirpur (Delhi) are still awaited by the CPCB.

(Sourced from BS)

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