Moratorium extended on critically polluted industrial clusters
By IANSTuesday, October 26, 2010
NEW DELHI - The environment ministry Tuesday announced that it will extend the moratorium on developmental projects in critically polluted industrial clusters, including Tarapur, Vapi and Coimbatore, till March next year.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has identified 43 industrial clusters in various states as critically polluted, based on the parameters related to incidence of pollution in water, land and air.
“Of the 43 critically polluted industrial clusters, we have received remediation action plans from 27. Based on the inputs received from the CPCB, the ministry has lifted moratorium on five clusters,” said an environment ministry official.
The five clusters include Tarapur in Maharashtra, Vapi in Gujarat, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, Mandi-Govindgarh in Punjab and Pattencherru-bollaram in Andhra Pradesh.
The government imposed a temporary moratorium on Jan 1 on consideration of developmental projects, including the projects in the pipeline for clearance, in these clusters till Aug 30. The states were asked to submit to the CPCB by July 31 a remediation plan to check the pollution.
The deadline was later extended to Oct 31.
