MoEF lifts ban on projects in 8 more critically polluted areas

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), under attack for being allegedly rigid in clearing projects, 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 Ludhiana (Punjab), Varanasi-Mirzapur (Uttar Pradesh), Agra (Uttar Pradesh), Bhavnagar (Gujarat), Cuddalore (Tamil Nadu), Dombivalli (Maharashtra), Aurangabad(Maharashtra) and Navi-Mumbai (Maharashtra).

The move comes after the ministry’s decision to grant conditional clearance to the Lavasa hill city project, environment clearances to the Navi Mumbai airport and the 10,000-megawatt Jaitapur nuclear power project, among others. The ministry also gave conditional approval to South Korean steel maker Posco’s steel mill in Orissa.

It decided to lift the moratorium on the recommendations of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). 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 (CEPI) 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-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.