Should Residential constructions be permitted in abandoned industrial sites?

Abandoned Industrial sites are likely to be contaminated with hazardous wastes either dumped or contaminated by spills leaching out to soil and groundwater. The intensity, spread may vary from site to site and so will be associated costs. These contaminants unless properly remediated / cleaned up can lead to lot of health hazards to the residents. We are yet to have a legal redressal mechanism where the residents are compensated by the developers for chronic health risks and/ property damage due to exposure to the emissions, contaminants over the years following development.

In India, we do not have any laws that requires the developers to conduct a thorough due diligence from environmental angle and take necessary action for clean up if any contamination is found. Interestingly the real estate value in India is also not affected much even if the land is contaminated as the general public / buyer is not aware of its impacts. Most of the MNCs conduct environmental due diligence of the properties they intend to buy/ sell/ lease to ensure as mandated by their global policy to assess the extend of environmental liability. 

Clean ups are expensive and no developer like to get it done for obvious economic reasons. However, townships get developed in these type locations too.