Ban on new projects in highly polluted industrial areas in Delhi

Delhi government has put new projects and those on expansion on hold till August in highly polluted industrial areas after an environmental assessment of such clusters by the Central Pollution Control Board and IIT found immense air, water and land pollution.

"The environment ministry in January had asked us to impose a moratorium in the Nazafgarh drain basin, identifying it as a critically polluted area based on Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index (CEPI)," a senior Delhi government official said today.

The moratorium is also imposed on industrial clusters in Anand Parvat, Naraina, Okhala and Wazirpur which lie on the Nazafgarh drain basin and have exhausted their environmental capacity over the years.

The environment assessment of the industrial clusters by the CPCB and IIT, Delhi had found that of the 88 most-polluting industrial clusters, 43 had reached an upper limit in terms of air, water and land pollution.

Till the moratorium is in place, the environment ministry assisted by CPCB and local bodies will frame a guideline to improve the conditions in the clusters.

Similarly, construction and expansion in at least 22 industrial clusters in Ghaziabad and six in Noida in Uttar Pradesh has also been put on hold as they have been identified as critically polluted clusters, a senior environment official added.

Noida Phase I, II, III in Noida and Mohan Nagar, Rajinder Nagar, Kavi Nagar, Loni, Roop Nagar and Bulandshahar Road industrial areas are some of the clusters where further expansion has been banned.