FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Chennai 28 October 2010: The Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) has decided to continue its moratorium on setting up of new industries in the 3 out of 4 critically polluted industrial clusters of Tamil Nadu till March 2011. The areas where the moratorium would continue include industrial clusters in Cuddalore, Manali and Vellore. The moratorium on industrial expansion in Coimbatore was has been lifted subject to stringent conditions.

An office memorandum of the Ministry issued on 26 October 2010 extends the moratorium in 38 out of 43 identified critically polluted industrial clusters/ areas up to 31 March 2011. Moratoria that were in place for Tarapur (Maharashtra), Pattancheru-Bollaram (Andhra Pradesh), Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu), Vapi (Gujarat) and Mandi-Govindgarh (Punjab) were conditionally relaxed. The decision to lift the moratorium in these areas were based on the submissions of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) that had reviewed action plans submitted by industries for improving environmental quality and the work initiated by “the local stakeholders" on the submitted plans in these regions. The Ministry further issued strict conditions for monitoring and compliance with environmental guidelines in these regions.

The moratorium was imposed in January 2010 on 43 industrial clusters around the country including 4 from Tamil Nadu after they were declared 'critically polluted' based on their Comprehensive Environment Pollution Index (CEPI). The purpose of the moratorium was to initiate time-bound action plans for improving the environmental quality in these industrial clusters/ areas. While the initial order for moratorium was till August 2010, it was extended till 31 October 2010 due to delay in finalizing the action plans.

Read More at The SIPCOT Area Community Environmental Monitors