Govt to enact strict brick making act

Badrul Ahsan The government will not allow operation of any brick kiln within the areas of the city corporations, municipalities, upazila headquarters, forests, gardens and waterbodies, according to the draft Brick Making (Control) Act 2011. If any brick kiln owner fails to comply with the regulations of the act he will have to face the punishment of one year imprisonment or payment of taka 50,000 as fine or both. The government has initiated formulating the Brick Making (Control) Act 2011 with a view to reducing a significant amount of air pollution in the country, the draft said. According to a recent study of the World Bank, brick kilns cause forty per cent air pollution of the country's urban areas and thirty per cent of the rural areas. Department of Environment director general Monowar Islam said they have initiated formulation of the act, considering the devastating impact of the brick kilns to the environment. "The government has realised the extent of the pollution and taken initiatives to formulate the act to reduce a significant amount of air pollution in the country," Islam said. "The main victims of environment pollution are elderly citizens and children, so there is no other alternative but to enforce the act to control pollution and save the people," he added. A senior official of the Ministry of Environment and Forests told the FE that after the draft act is approved by the highest authority of the ministry, they would send it to the Law Ministry immediately for further action. "The government is very much serious about formation of the act. We are trying to complete all the formalities to pass the act within the earliest possible time," the ministry official said. Meanwhile, different environmentalist groups have hailed the government for its efforts to enact the law for ensuring a pollution-free environment. They also assured the government of their all-out cooperation in this regard, if necessary. "The local brick sector would expand manifold with increasing population and economic growth. Unless the regulatory framework is strengthened to reduce pollution from the brick kilns, the country's air quality would gradually deteriorate." Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) president Syeda Rizwana Hasan told the FE Friday. Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA) president Abu Naser Khan also urged the government to concentrate more on forcing the stakeholders to comply with the proposed act. According to the draft of the act, the brick kiln operators cannot collect soil from cultivatable lands, hills or mountains. Soil collected from ponds, lakes, rivers, haors, fallow lands etc can be used in the brick kilns. "The existing brick kilns would have to shift their establishments within two years of enactment of the act. No licence would be renewed, if the owner fails to comply with the regulation," the draft said.