New Delhi, Apr 24 (KNN) Polluters will have to pay for the health hazards they contribute to in the critically polluted areas after a health impact assessment is done said Minister of Environment and Forests Jayanthi Natarajan.

“The Comprehensive Environment Pollution Index (CEPI) is linked to public health in terms of presence of toxins and their concentration, exceedence factors, impact of human health and level of exposures. Health impact assessment and health survey of critically polluted areas (CPA) will be carried out, the funds for which will be based on polluter pays principle,” she said.

Meanwhile the government will implement various action plans prepared by the State Pollution Control Boards for improving environmental quality of the 43 critically polluted areas.

“So far, 39 action plans have been finalized. The implementation of these action plans would lead to improvement of environmental quality of the 43 critically polluted areas,” she said in the Rajya Sabha recently.

Out of the 88 major industrial clusters, 43 of them with CEPI score of 70 and above were considered critically polluted areas according to an environmental assessment done by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi based on the CEPI criteria in 2009.

The action plans highlight the pollution caused by different sources both domestic as well as industrial.  “These action plans envisage mitigating the pollution caused by various sources,” she said.

The government has also been providing financial assistance for establishment of common treatment facilities such as Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs), Common Bio-Medical Waste Treatment Facilities (CBMWTF) and Treatment Storage and Disposal Facilities (TSDFs) and expansion of the National Ambient Air and Water Monitoring networks. (KNN)