West Bengal Commerce and Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee on Thursday said several appeals to the Centre to curb the ban on setting up new industries in Haldia has not yielded any result.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests imposed a moratorium on the development of new industries and extension of existing units in Haldia based on a comprehensive environmental pollution index (CEPI).
CEPI determines the condition of groundwater, land and air in the industrial clusters across the country. Any industrial cluster that scores 70 will be called “critically polluted”.
“Even as our State has brought down the pollution level by reducing the CEPI score from 70 to about 68, the ban on industrial growth continues in Haldia. Several appeals to the MoEF did not help,” Chatterjee told presspersons at a press conference here.
According to him, the proposals for setting up industries in Haldia cannot be implemented, unless the Centre relaxes the moratorium.