Three industrial clusters – Vatva, Vapi and Ankleshwar – have been facing moratorium imposed by the Ministry of Environment and Forest MoEF) since they have been marked as the critically or severely polluted clusters.

Javadekar, who was in Ahmedabad to attend the engagement ceremony of BJP national president Amit Shah’s son, addressed a press conference. Replying to a question on whether the moratorium imposed on some industrial clusters in the state will be lifted, Javdekar said, “I have met the state government officials and have got a lot of material from them (on the subject).” He said that in two weeks’ time a decision will be made by his Ministry on the issue after holding a meeting with the ministers of the state government and if possible with the chief minister.

Vapi, Ankleshwar and Vatva industrial clusters are among the 75 severely polluted or critically polluted industrial clusters of the country. The MoEF had imposed expansion and development moratorium on them, which means no new industry can be allowed there or the cluster cannot expand.

MoEF has been reviewing these clusters to measure their pollution level, including air pollution, water pollution and soil pollution, with the impact of the same on the population in the vicinity.

Javadekar added that his ministry’s priority was to expedite the decision-taking process for granting various developmental projects. He said that the NDA Government will strike a balance between “Development ka Agenda” and “Paryavaran ka Jhanda”.