Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Friday stated that companies dealing with hazardous chemicals have been ordered to shift their units out of residential areas. This directive follows a chemical factory blast in Thane’s Dombivli that killed at least nine people and injured more than 60 others.
Meanwhile, industry associations have come out questioning the government order and blamed the government for ignoring encroachments into buffer zones.
The Chief Minister, talking to reporters on Thursday, said the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) should relocate hazardous chemical companies to lands that have been purchased in Ambernath, or “they should change the land use from chemical to IT, engineering, or textile.”
“We will give them an opportunity to start such industries where there will be no accidents,” he added.
Expressing disappointment over the statement, Deven Soni, Chairman of the Kalyan Ambernath Manufacturers Association (KAMA), said, “It’s wrong to say that industries should leave Dombivli MIDC has been here since 1960. There was a buffer of 1 to 1.5 kms between MIDC and residential areas. The buffer zone has been violated by residential buildings.”
He added, “These residential buildings were granted permission by authorities. Why didn’t they consider maintaining the buffer zone?”
A boiler exploded at the Amudan Chemicals factory, located in Phase 2 of Dombivli MIDC, on Thursday afternoon, killing at least nine people and injuring more than 60. The impact of the blast and the resultant blaze damaged adjacent factories and houses as well.
A businessman who owns a company in the area said that he opened his company after taking a loan, and now the company is destroyed in the blast. “We have a loan of Rs 2 crore. My factory has been completely damaged. These chemical factories have to relocate from the area, or we will have to move,” Satyam Garebe of Satyam Doors said.
Several people are still missing after the blast.
Vishal Sunil Poudwal of Cosmos Factory, next to where the blast occurred, is untraceable since the blast. “Poudwal was inside his cabin when the blast took place and didn’t have time to escape,” a person known to him said, adding that his family is trying to identify him.
Satyanarayan Rajbhar, a labourer at another factory for the last ten years, is also missing after the blast. His brother, Hridaynarayan Rajbhar, said they are waiting for a DNA test to confirm a charred body received from the blast site.
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