The chairman of the Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board has said that industrial clusters identified as critically polluted in Tamilnadu by a Central Pollution Control Board report are almost ready with their action plans. “Six action plans have been prepared,” R Balakrishnan said.

He said that 27 industries have been identified in Manali, a place near Chennai to setup online monitoring systems of their emissions like nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide etc. “The online monitoring system should start functioning in another two to three weeks, that is by the end of June,” the chairman added.

Vellore, Cuddalore, Manali, Coimbatore, Tirupur, Mettur and Erode were the industrial clusters in Tamilnadu which were identified as being critically polluted according to the report. A moratorium was imposed on the critically polluted areas identified. The environment ministry had said that they would not give clearance to any industry in these 88 clusters. The environment minister Jairam Ramesh had said that unless action plans are prepared and implemented to improve the environment in these areas, no new industries would be allowed.