  We report on the identification of 54 embedded clusters around 217 massive
protostellar candidates of which 34 clusters are new detections. The embedded
clusters are identified as stellar surface density enhancements in the 2 $\mu$m
All Sky Survey (2MASS) data. Because the clusters are all associated with
massive stars in their earliest evolutionary stage, the clusters should also be
in an early stage of evolution. Thus the properties of these clusters should
reflect properties associated with their formation rather than their evolution.
For each cluster, we estimate the mass, the morphological type, the photometry
and extinction. The clusters in our study, by their association with massive
protostars and massive outflows, reinstate the notion that massive stars begin
to form after the first generation of low mass stars have completed their
accretion phase. Further, the observed high gas densities and accretion rates
at the centers of these clusters is consistent with the hypothesis that high
mass stars form by continuing accretion onto low mass stars.
