Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday said the Central government will not give clearances for the next eight months to companies that propose setting up industries in 88 areas identified as “critically polluted” zones including Gujarat’s Ankleshwar and Vapi.

Ramesh said the government has identified 88 industrial clusters in the country as having “very alarmingly high” level of environmental pollution based on a study by IIT Delhi and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

“No fresh proposals for environmental approval in these clusters will be considered by my ministry for the next eight months till the state governments and the Centre together put together an action plan and there should be evidence that the action plan is actually being implemented,” Ramesh told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

The study titled, “Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index” has listed industry hubs like Navi Mumbai and Chembur in Mumbai, Ankleshwar and Vapi in Gujarat, Ghaziabad and Singrauli in Uttar Pradesh, Korba in Chhattisgarh, Chandrapur in Maharashtra, Ludhiana in Punjab, Vellore in Tamil Nadu and Bhiwadi in Rajasthan as being among critically polluted.

The pollution index takes into account the level of land, air and water pollution to define a critically polluted area (CPA).