the West Bengal Pollution Control Board ( wbpcb ) has banned the setting up of new businesses, including hospitals and nursing homes in Calcutta and Howrah. The wbpcb has come out with three lists totalling 218 industry categories and asked the Calcutta and Howrah Municipal Corporations not to grant licences to 125 of them. The order did not cover existing businesses.

Among those banned are 84 units are in the red, 41 in the