Three die in Tarapur industrial unit: Set up in 1978, Tarapur MIDC has an infamous history of accidents
The 1,030 hectare industrial area has over 1,100 chemical factories, most don’t follow fire emergency directive
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The fire spread to almost five chemical factories in Tarapur. Amit Chakravarty
The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) industrial areas in Tarapur is one of the largest industrial belts in Maharashtra. Set up in 1978, the 1,030 hectares land has 2,009 plots, data from MIDC shows. Of these, over 1,100 are chemical factories. Officials claim apart from Tarapur, areas such as Ambernath, Dombivali, Badlapur and Thane Creek also house a large number of chemical units in Maharashtra.
“These units are prone to accidents because anything can happen when chemicals are being mixed,” said C A Bhagat, deputy engineer at Tarapur MIDC. Apart from the number of chemical plants, the belt has textile, paint, steel and electrical wiring factories. MIDC officials claim Tarapur’s closeness to Mumbai and quick connectivity to highways makes it an attractive area to build factories. Several Mumbai residents own factory plots in Tarapur as the distance can be covered in two hours.
According to Palghar collector Dr Prashant Narnaware, three months ago, he had directed Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health (DIHS) to conduct a safety audit and submit a compliance report of each factory following a blaze in Vada factory. “The action of safety audit and report remains pending,” he said. Incidentally, the Tarapur MIDC has been celebrating “Safety week” since March 4, during which each factory was conducting mock fire drill, safety competitions and labour awareness drives.
Aarti Drugs, adjacent to Novaphene, conducted one of these drives two days ago, its administrative officials said. According to Bharat Ghosalia, who owns a lone wiring production plant in a lane dominated by chemical plants, the area offers ease of business. The factory was built by his father. “But I realise that we made a huge mistake by setting up a factory amidst chemical plants,” he said.
Ghosalia’s Darbar Industries was one of the six factories gutted by the fire that spread due to an explosion in nuclear plant in Novaphene Specialties Pvt Ltd. A senior administrative officer said any region with dense chemical units faces the risk of adverse reactions.
According to Mohan Kumar, manager, Aarti Drugs Ltd, that was partially gutted in Thursday night’s mishap, each factory has between 50-100 workers, mostly migrants, who work in alternate shifts for 24 hours. “We follow all safety precautions. Helmets are compulsory. Earlier this week, we had a fire extinguishing drive to ensure fire fighting appliances are functioning,” Kumar said.
Data available with the MIDC fire station shows that one case of major fire was recorded in 2015, 2016 and 2017. “All these fires were in chemical factory but there were no deaths in past years,” said station officer, Anand Parab.
In 2015, following a similar mishap, former collector Abhijeet Bangar had directed all factories in the MIDC area to put a board outside their gates detailing the chemicals used in process to aid fire fighters in understanding the nature of chemical they were dealing with in situation of emergency. “Not every factory has followed that directive,” an administrative officer from Palghar district said.
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