Govt to relocate chemical factories?

MUMBAI: The blast in a chemical factory in Dombivli on Thursday has once again brought the focus back on the need to shift these industries out of residential areas.

MUMBAI: The blast in a chemical factory in Dombivli on Thursday has once again brought the focus back on the need to shift these industries out of residential areas. Soon after the blast in which 11 were killed and more than 150 injured, industries minister Subhash Desai announced that steps will be taken to avoid similar tragedies in future.

HT Image

While the state government plans to frame a new policy to shift these industries out of the city limits, urban planners said this will not be easy.

“The plan looks possible on paper but is not easy to implement. Before relocating these industries, the government will have to check if the new location is suitable to them and also if the new location is accessible to the workers. In addition, it will have to provide infrastructure such as power and water in the new area,” a former planner with City and Industrial Corporation (Cidco), who did not wish to be named, said.

Satish Deshmukh, who was employed with a chemical manufacturing company, said rules were not followed by either by the chemical factories or the civic authorities to ensure that the area surrounding the industries are not populated. “According to rules, there should not have been residential development in at least one-km radius of the chemical companies in Trans Thane Creek (TTC) industrial belt. As there were no checks, ancillary companies and labourers’ camps, residential buildings mushroomed in the area. We have seen except very few companies, which are giants in the business, no company took safety measures seriously,” said Deshmukh.