Work on action plans to bring down pollution in critically polluted areas in Delhi will begin soon, Central Pollution Control Board chairman S P Gautam has said. “The work on studies to reduce the pollution levels in these areas will begin within a fortnight,” he said.

The ministry of environment and forests had called for a moratorium on new projects in critically polluted areas was called till action plans were ready for the areas. Areas like Anand Parbat, Naraina, Okhla and Wazirpur, which fall in the Najafgarh drain basin are ranked 11th among 88 most polluted clusters in India. The environmental index study was carried out by the Central Pollution Control Board.

A moratorium for new projects in these areas has been called for, a report in The Indian Express says. A temporary ban on new projects will extend till August this year.

Gautam added that the study to be conducted will be outsourced to various institutions like IITs, NERI etc.