Boisar fire: No action against factory owner

Mumbai: The Boisar MIDC police is awaiting the report of the preliminary inquiry being conducted by the joint director of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), Boisar on aspects related to safety and security before registering a case against the owner of the Novaphene factory, where an explosion in a reactor led to a massive fire on Thursday night.

Three workers were killed and five adjacent chemical factories — Unimax, Prachi, Arti, Bharat Rasayan and Darbari — were damaged in the blaze. The police is probing a suspected lapse on the part of the Novaphene factory that could have led to the fire.  

“A preliminary inquiry has been started by the joint director, safety and security department of MIDC. Once that report comes, we will register an FIR,” said Manjunath Singe, superintendent of police, Palghar division.

It took nine fire engines five hours to bring the fire under control after which cooling operations began. The deceased were identified as Pintu Kumar Gautam, Alok Nath and Janu Adaria.  Deputy chief fire brigade officer of MIDC Milind Ugale said that it would have made a difference if staffers from the Novaphene factory joined in the rescue and fire-fighting efforts.

The police on Saturday registered a case against Suhas Borkar, a fire officer of the Tarapur Atomic Power Station, who had allegedly refused to send additional fire engines, apart from the one he had sent, despite repeated request made by the police and disaster management team. In all, nine fire engines had arrived at the spot to douse the fire. A case has been registered against Borkar under section 56 and section 57 of the Disaster Management Act 2005. The reactor explosion was heard around 8-10 kilometres away from the site. Shutters, windowpanes and a computer were destroyed in the premises of the companies that were in the vicinity.