Following the blast, industries minister Subhash Desai announced that steps would be taken to avoid similar tragedies in the future. On Thursday, a pharmaceutical unit exploded in the residential area near Thane, causing damage within a 1.5 km radius. Many chemical industries in Navi Mumbai were shifted beyond Panvel, but residential colonies have sprung up here as well, another CIDCO officer said. Environmentalist D Stalin blames officials of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) for not ensuring this. To start with, the state government is planning to bring in a new policy to shift these industries out of city limits.

Source: Hindustan Times May 27, 2016 01:48 UTC