These industrial zones are Mangalore, Bhadravathi, Raichur, Bidar and Peenya, which are among the 88 most contaminated industrial zones.
The direction issued by the Union environment ministry comes following a report by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IIT-D), that identified these industrial clusters where air and water are heavily contaminated by toxic metals and chemicals spewed by factories.
“The restriction on consideration of projects from critically polluted areas will apply for a period of 8 months up to August 2010,” said an officical order. In these eight months, CPCB along with the state pollution control boards will finalise a “time-bound action plan” to improve the environmental quality of those highly polluted areas.
The environment ministry expects to receive additional funding in the coming budget to improve the swearage and effluent treatment systems in these areas.
All new projects in these clusters, whose environmental clearances are pending, would be returned to project proponenets. The decision comes with immediate effect. In case of any dispute, the CPCB has to take the call after listening to both parties.
The clusters were selected using a new cataloguing tool called “comprehensive environmental pollution index (CEPI).” On a scale of 0-100, the areas having aggregated CEPI score of 70 and above are considered as “critically polluted,” which should be kept under surveillance and pollution measures implemented more efficiently.