Fire near refinery destroys shanties

It was reported that about 100 shanties were gutted in a fire near the Guwahati refinery on 11.1.2010. Luckily there were no casualties. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. Local residents allege that the effluents released from the refinery in a bypass drain caught fire. The incident raises the question of facility siting and how did the shanties come up near the refinery? The Bhopal disaster was an epitome in facility siting. Shanties were allowed to spring up near the plant leading to greater number of deaths when the gas leaked. In today's scenario, allowing dwellings to come up near hazardous installations poses two risks - one is the exposure of people living in the shanties to the hazards from the installation and the other is from the security and terrorism point of view. The Jaipur oil depot fire also pointed out the hazards of allowing development close to hazardous installations. When will we wake up?