Deadline for brick kilns relocation from city areas extended again

Md Shah Jahan | Published: February 09, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

The government has extended the deadline for relocation of brickfields from city areas to safer places to June 30 next.
The Department of Environment (DoE) in a circular recently said the brick kilns those are situated in the city areas like City Corporation, Pourashava should either be relocated or shut down in the stipulated timeframe.
DoE director (Air Quality Management) Mahmood Hasan Khan told the FE that they have extended the time in response to an appeal by the brick kilns owners.
"We have decided to extend the timeframe as the owners said that it is not possible on their part to relocate the brickfields shortly," he said.
Sources said the government extended the deadline for the fifth times. Previously, the owners were noticed for four times to relocate their brick kilns. But, the response was very poor.
The Bangladesh Brick Mnufacturing Owners Association (BBMOA) vice president Asadur Rahman Khan said it is really a tough job to relocate the brick kilns because it involves a big amount of money.
About the execution of government notice, he said it is not possible for them to relocate cent per cent brick kilns by the stipulated time.
"I hope about 50 per cent brick kilns would be relocated by this time," he said.
Rights organisations said emissions from brick kilns, old vehicles, burning of coal, and dust are mainly responsible for air pollution in Dhaka city. They said, of the 10,000 brick kilns across the country, half are located around the capital, contributing to 30 per cent of air pollution in Dhaka. And the situation is much worse across the country.
At a programme recently, they blamed low quality of coal which has higher sulphur content of seven to 10 per cent used as fuel in the brick kilns for the environment pollution. The BBMOA leaders said though there are two separate funds with the Bangladesh Bank for the brick makers, the government did not allocate any assistance to relocate the brickfields from the city areas.
"We did not get any assurance of assistance from the government. As the relocation is not easy, we have to shut down a large number of brick fields," the BBMOA vice president said.
Brick making industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in Bangladesh which has an estimated annual turnout of around Tk 8.66 billion. It is one of the largest sources of emission of green house gases, mainly CO2, responsible for global warming.
According to a research conducted by Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), brick kilns are the leading cause of air pollution in the country, while vehicular emissions have been identified as the second largest contributor. Brick kilns are largely responsible for air pollution, and the increasing number of vehicles is creating concomitant pressure on air quality, the research said.