Disaster cover in Maharashtra mooted

MUMBAI, July 3: The draft Maharashtra Disaster Management Plan recommends introducing disaster insurance in the state. The absence of any in...

MUMBAI, July 3: The draft Maharashtra Disaster Management Plan recommends introducing disaster insurance in the state. The absence of any insurance means that the government has to bear a huge cost for compensation and rehabilitation. In Goa, disaster-related compensation has been introduced by the United India Assurance Company. "The practice of insurance does not reduce vulnerability, but tends to shift the burden of losses to another location thereby creating new types of vulnerabilities," the draft plan says.

The plan, which will be discussed at a three-day workshop here beginning from July 6, calls for the formulation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) to tackle industrial hazards, especially in chemical and non-chemical industrial estates in the state. The most vulnerable areas are Thane, Mumbai, Pune and Nashik.

There is a need to identify district-wise the possible industrial and chemical hazards, the agencies currently dealing with the management of these hazards, resources available and thepresent level of preparedness. Based on this information, SOPs can be formulated to respond to the hazards.The plan says industrial accidents are most likely during chemical processing, manufacturing, storage, transport and disposal of toxic wastes. The types of industry prone to accidents are those involved in chemicals and chemical products, rubber, coal and petroleum and non-metallic mineral petroleum.

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The causes of accidents in these industries are due to explosions resulting from electricity, fire, excessive pressure of steam and air, gas, vapour, fires including backfire in boilers and gassing. The Raigad division, which has been declared as an "industry district", shows the maximum number of accidents due to gassing while explosions were maximum at Thane and Aurangabad, and fire-related accidents were most at Nashik.

The directorate of industrial safety and health and several district authorities have already prepared off-site emergency plans in 1988 for Pune district, Thane district, Mumbai,Chembur and Agra Road areas, Khopoli in Raigad district, MIDC-Lote Parshiram, Ratnagiri district, MIDC-Roha, Raigad district and Rasayani, Patalganga, Raigad district. However, according to the proposed disaster-management plan, these measures were not sufficient. It calls for SOPs to effectively tackle the hazards.

In Maharashtra, on an average, 134 road accidents take place everyday leading to 15 deaths and 81 injured.

There are 107 accident-prone spots on national highways serving the state and 50 on the Maharashtra state highways. The data clearly shows that NH4 or the Mumbai-Pune highway is the most vulnerable to accidents. The highway has the maximum traffic density, and the main cause of accidents is carelessness of drivers especially during overtaking.

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Transport of hazardous substances also poses a major risk and constitutes 0.4-0.6 per cent of the total road accidents that have occured in the state during two years.

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