Clean brick kilns

The recent decision of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Environment and Forests about taking stern action against non-compliant brick field owners is otherwise welcome. It has come in the wake of the failure of more than 60 per cent of the country's brick kilns to adopt eco-friendly technology within July 2014 -- a deadline set by the department of environment (DoE) with the explicit aim to avert increasing environmental pollution. Given the culture of increasing disrespect for government rules and instructions, bred mostly by ineffective and indifferent enforcement mechanism of the state machinery, one, however, cannot be certain how far the recent decision is going to bring the defiant brick makers to task.

The DoE took the initiative way back in 2007 to modernise the brick kilns by making it mandatory for them to use eco-friendly technology. The number of brick fields in the country is roughly estimated at around 8,000 with more than half of them, being in close proximity to the capital itself. Initially, the target timeframe was upto the year 2010. To further reinforce the initiative, the DoE stopped renewing environmental clearance certificates to brick kilns reliant on conventional and outmoded methods of production. All these seemed to work only partially as the DoE had to succumb time and again to the pressure for extension of the deadline. Finally, when the deadline expired in July this year, it became more than apparent that the government's instructions remained unheeded by almost as high as 40 per cent of the brick manufacturers.

Now, what the brick makers have flouted is not just the instruction of the DoE but, sadly also the punishable provisions of the relevant law. The Brick Making and Brickfield Establishment (Control) Act 2013 -- no doubt a major accomplishment of the government -- addresses the issue of environmental pollution by brick kilns in a clear and straightforward manner. Meant to be effective from July 01 this year, the law, beside arresting environment pollution, envisages safeguards for arable lands, forest and wet lands. It has also introduced tougher regulations for brick production, including provision of trial for offences under the penal code. That the majority of the brick makers have not heeded to the law nor its penal provisions is a clear indication that they are hard nuts to crack. Unless forced into the task, albeit pitilessly, the outmoded brick kilns will continue to release thick clouds of smoke all over the country. There is no denying that if it continues like this, it will affect the country's human and animal life, arable fields and more than anything, its already degrading environment.

Despite the sizeable contribution of brick making to the economy, brick fields all over the country are getting increasingly invasive in grabbing its less than sufficient arable lands. More dangerous is the threat that comes in terms of affecting neighbourhood lands under cultivation because of the emission of heat, caustic smoke and dust. Over 6.4 million tonnes of carbon emissions, as a contemporary reported, are caused by the brick kilns annually. Now with the relevant law in place and rules framed for enforcement, there should not be any technical hurdle to implement government instructions, though belatedly, in cleansing the brick kilns.