Indore : Giving a relief to the State Government, which has signed various MoUs with multinational companies, the Central Pollution Control Board lifted its ban on establishing new large scale industries in Indore district.
The CPCB had imposed the ban about one and half years ago when it found Indore a ‘Sensitive Zone’. The ban has been lifted after low pollution level was found in the recent report on pollution by CPCB.
“The CPCB has sent us a letter to inform that Indore is not in the list of ‘Sensitive Zone’ now. After the report, now the ban on establishment of new industries has been lifted,” Member Secretary of Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board Achyut Anand Mishra said.
He further said that the Central Board had found Indore in the list of most pollutant city in its report, one and half years ago, and banned establishment of any new industry in the district.
“The State Ministry of Environment and Housing had taken objections on the report of CPCB and claimed that there is variation in the report. We have also demanded to re-check the pollution level in the district,” Mishra said adding that “a team of CPCB visited the city in January for re-investigation, which gives its final report.”
The Member Secretary said that they didn’t have any information about the position of the city in the list. Director of Regional Pollution Board Gupta said that it’s the result of continuous activities of the Board to control the pollution level.
“We had served notices to 40 companies for releasing industrial waste in nearby water bodies. We have also acted against the industries for not following the norms to prevent pollution,” Gupta said.
Indore No 2 pollutant city
It is to be noted that in the report of 2012-2013, the CPCB described Indore as the second most polluted city in the country. The city had got 79 points out of 100 in pollution level followed by Singrauli.
The department had also demanded from the Centre to provide BS-4 fuel for vehicles of the city to prevent it from pollution.
