In a major move, the Union government on Saturday lifted moratorium on new investments and expansion in industrial belts of Ankleshwar, Vapi, Panoli and Vatva. The area is popularly known as the “Golden Corridor”.
The announcement was made by Union Minister of Environment and Forests Anil Dave at a function held in Ankleshwar. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani was also present.
These industrial clusters were put under critically polluted zones in 2010 under the UPA regime.
The decision of lifting the moratorium comes a month and a half ahead of Vibrant Gujarat Investors' Summit to be held in state capital Gandhinagar in January, 2017.
Dave said that lifting the ban would help Gujarat scale global heights, setting up new industries and expanding the existing ones.
Rupani alleged that the UPA government had imposed moratorium under the pretext of environment to stall Gujarat's progress.
The state government is hoping that the 2017's summit might help in attracting investments in these industrial clusters.
Though the industrial units in association with the state government have set up effluent treatment plants running into crores of rupees, environmental groups feel that this was not sufficient as the damage had been already done.
These industrial clusters are dominated by chemical industries and the ground water in the area and soil are highly polluted and so also is the air. Organisations working in the field of environment conservation have time and again raised alarm over the damage to the environment and health issues faced by the residents staying in the areas and also the workers working in these industrial units.
While the move of lifting the moratorium has been welcomed by industrial associations, environmental groups have expressed their reservations.
Rohit Prajapati of Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti has alleged that Dave has guaranteed appeasement of “polluting industries” and irreversible damage to the environment.
Prajapati said that the chief minister should read the report titled “Ground water pollution in Luna, Dudhawada, Piludara area near Vadodara, Gujarat” of the Central Pollution Control Board.
He also wondered as to whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Clean India campaign had any plan to decontaminate ground water of these industrial clusters.
