Maharashtra orders shifting of hazardous chemicals factories away from residential complexes, industry opposes the move

The government of Maharashtra has ordered the shifting of factories manufacturing hazardous chemicals away from residential areas to avoid the repeat of Dombivli-type accidents and provide the secured and peaceful stay of residents in housing complexes. The order followed a blast at a chemical factory in Thane’s Dombivli area last week that killed at least nine people and injured more than 60 others, including factory workers and residents in the vicinity.

Speaking to media persons at the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) headquarter, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that instructions have been given to shift the units that deal with hazardous chemicals out of residential areas to avoid the recurrence of incidents like the Dombivli chemical factory blast. Instructions have been given to the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) to shift the hazardous chemical companies to the lands that have been purchased away from the residential complexes.

Alternatively, MIDC has been instructed to change the land use from chemical to either information technology (IT), engineering or textile, for which the Maharashtra government has proposed to give additional concessions for that purpose. Shinde added that the government will extend them an opportunity to start such industries where there will be no accidents. Maharashtra’s Chief Minister blamed the occurrence of the blast to hydrogen peroxide chemical, and it was triggered due to a rise in the temperature inside the reactor.

The state Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis assured the factory owners by saying, “The industry cannot be moved in a day. Discussions are on between the government and industrialists for shifting factories away from residential complexes. Now, the government will work towards finding alternative sites for these factories at the affordable and the nearest possible locations.”

Dombivli blast
On Thursday afternoon, a boiler exploded at the Amudan Chemicals unit in Phase II of Dombivli MIDC (Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation), killing and injuring workers in the factory and people living outside. The impact of the blast was so severe that the explosion set machinery ablaze and damaged adjacent factories and houses as well. A huge uproar spread all around the factory with people rushing for safety. Fire on the factory site was controlled after several hours of efforts by around a dozen of fire tenders.

Witnesses reported massive plumes of smoke billowing from the site, with the explosion’s noise being hard up to three kilometres away. Factory workers quickly rushed to the spot. However, the fire spread to adjacent factories, necessitating a broader evacuation of the area. Onlookers experienced triple explosions at quick intervals which were so powerful that nearby homes shook, and windows and glass panes were shattered even as terrified locals and workers in adjoining industrial premises rushed out onto the streets.

Industry opposes
Meanwhile, hazardous chemicals manufacturers have opposed the Maharashtra government’s decision over the shifting of factories from the city to non-residential areas. The industry associations have come out questioning the government order and blamed the government for ignoring encroachments into buffer zones. There have been several small chemical processing and allied units in the vicinity of Amudan Chemicals, that have been categorized as encroachers in the area.

Deven Soni, Chairman of the Kalyan Ambernath Manufacturers Association (KAMA), said, “The order for shutting down or shifting of hazardous chemical manufacturing factories is a knee-jerk reaction from the government. Shutting down industries or relocating them causes economic disruption and livelihood losses. The Maharashtra government should nudge these factories to follow industrial safety and environmental rules.”

He further added, “It is wrong to say that industries should leave Dombivli MIDC as these chemicals units have been in these locations since 1960. There was a buffer of 1-1.5 kms between MIDC and residential areas. This buffer zone has been violated by residential buildings. These residential buildings were granted permission by authorities Why didn’t they consider maintaining the buffer zone? Culpability for the incident, of course, should be fixed. However, safety-related concerns about the Thane industrial complex are not new. In 2016, a fire accident at the complex claimed five lives. Explosions have been reported from the area in 2018, 2020, and 2023 as well.”

Rules governing safety aspects
According to a report from the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, India stands as among the top six chemical manufacturing countries in the world. Diverse industries such as pharmaceuticals, pesticides, fertilisers, paints, and petrochemicals, collectively account for more than 70,000 of the products that are made from chemicals. The chemical sector contributes about 11 percent of India’s exports and employs more than two million people.

India has notified 15 Acts and 19 rules governing different aspects of the chemical industry. However, none of them deals exclusively with the hazardous chemicals sector. At the same time, the overlapping jurisdictions of different ministries work to the detriment of effective regulation. Monitoring and inspection are weak and most often, these exercises involve imposing fines on erring units — which, by all accounts, breeds these incidents. The chemical industry in India comprises ‘1,861 major accident hazard (MAH) units’ and ‘thousands of registered hazardous factories (below the MAH criteria)’. These figures exclude factories in the unorganized sector.


DILIP KUMAR JHA
Editor
dilip.jha@polymerupdate.com