MUMBAI, April 2: The Nutra-Plus unit at the Tarapur Industrial Estate was an explosion waiting to happen with inadequate safety measures making Wednesday's disaster a certainty.A faulty safety valve raising temperatures to inordinate levels rendered the cooling apparatus ineffective, says a chemical engineer from a neighbouring industrial unit who had access to the Nutra-Plus plant.A worker requesting anonymity said the two chemical engineers who were supposed to operate the reactor which exploded were both ``out to watch a cricket match on television''.``When they realised there was a problem, they panicked and ran to get the managing director who was the only senior official on the spot. By then the situation had spun out of control and the MD was the first to die,'' he recalls.Recalling the incident, the biggest ever explosion in the district in recent times, the unit's owner, Mukesh Naik, claims safety rules were observed. Fire Department officials who spoke to Express Newsline at thesite said they support the theory off the record while official inquiries have been ordered.According to machine operator and union leader Rajeshwar Singh explosions have occurred on three previous occasions. ``Since they were not severe, work would be restarted after a few repair.''Wednesday's explosion has claimed five lives so far even as salvage operations began only 24 hours after the accident. Stocks of hazardous chemicals lie buried under the debris and the fire brigade were taking no chances.``We are waiting for special equipment ordered from the Thane Municipal Corporation's fire brigade,'' fire officials said. At 12.45 pm, a special fire engine fitted with a transformer to cut through metal arrived, allowing salvage operations to commence.Twelve persons were rescued on Wednesday but fire officials fear that eight bodies may still be smothered under the cement, mortar and metal.Following the blast, senior district officials, including Thane Collector Shrikant Singh, Konkan DivisionalDeputy Superintendent of Police Subhash Awte, Thane rural Superintendent of Police Ashok Kamte and Palghar Tehsildar J Bhoir, visited the site. But they were all reluctant to speak to the media.``We shall conduct a separate inquiry to ascertain the cause,'' was all the collector was willing to say. Officials of the Maharashtra government's Industrial Safety and Health Department (ISHD) and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board were at also present today, with the latter saying they are trying to assess the blast's impact on the local environment. ISHD Joint Director M Gadappa and his deputy S N Karande said it ``would be unwise to talk to the press now''.The two-tonne capacity reactor No 1 of the Nutra-Plus plant, producing Dene-Tolemide (a chemical compound used for veterinary medicines), exploded with such ferocity that employees and workers of the neighbouring Vinita Synthetic plant were jolted out of their chairs.A chemical engineer who has been working in a nearby chemical plant since the last15 years told Express Newsline that the entire zone is sitting on a powder keg.``There are over 600 hazardous chemical units in the zone, none of which adhere to safety rules,'' he alleges. Fire officials and industry safety officials agree, but refused to go on record.The engineer says the Nutra-Plus plant stored large quantities of toulene, xylene, concentrated nitric acid, liquefied ammonia, sulphuric acid and thionyl chloride, used as raw materials. In what can scarcely constitute safety procedures, large sections of the metal pipes transporting both chemicals and steam were corroded.
