With the advent of winter every year, the long closed brick kilns begin coming alive. The reason the kiln-owners choose this particular period as the ideal time is that there are little fears of rain. A furnace is the prime requisite for brick making. In spite of an environment-saving Act, these days the kilns are part of a typical rural scenario in the country.
These kilns could be detected from far away. Their tall chimneys and the black smoke spewing out through them are indeed a distinctive sight, especially in the vast expanses of green-dominated Bangladesh. The brick manufacturing factories were an infrequent spectacle in the past. Thanks to the construction spree now going on in the country, the kilns have long become omnipresent. Those manufacturing bricks for the large cities are being set up on the urban outskirts. Likewise, the smaller towns get their materials from the kilns established in the nearby areas. Since a nation's overall development and higher standard of life and work is dependent, among others, on brick-built structures, bricks are a premier spur behind socio-economic uplift. But few can downplay the bleak aspect of development. So it goes with brick manufacturing. Environmentalists and rights groups have long been protesting the mushrooming growth of brick kilns throughout the country. They have repeatedly singled out the environmental impact of brick kilns on the country's rural ecology.
In the face of continued campaigns for shifting the brick kilns from sensitive areas, the government in 2013 enforced the Brick Kilns Establishment (Control) Act. Outwardly, the smoke-emitting kilns used to have a direct impact on the croplands. But in fact, besides agriculture, scores of ecologically critical areas (ECAs) had also to bear the brunt. The human habitats near the brick fields would have to cope with the kilns' environmental fallout. Moreover, migratory birds that travelled to the country's countless swamps and other water bodies during winter eventually stopped visiting their earlier safe shelters. The Act enforced by the Department of Environment (DoE) has prohibited the setting up of brick kilns in the surrounding areas of an ECA that also include rivers. The DoE has directed the kiln owners not to use firewood for burning bricks; instead it has asked them to use coal. However, the department did not elaborately specify the nature and standards of this special type of coal.
The Brick Kilns Act was supposed to form 64 environmental courts across the country under the supervision of DoE. There are just 22 such courts which have been established since the Act came into force. Apart from the dearth of adequate and efficient magistrates and other staff, the grand plan has allegedly hit snags for some other reasons. They include red tape complications. Moreover the said Act has not been explained in detail. It asks the brick kiln entrepreneurs to follow the law, but has not come up with rational solutions. The kilns should not be set up near agricultural tracts, and not within certain limits of the ECAs. But it does not clearly define the suitable locations for the brick kilns.
In this confused state, few of the country's around 7,000 brick kilns can be expected to become responsive to environment. Instead, with the urban reach going deeper into the rural areas and brick-built infrastructure coming up unabatedly, the need for this essential ingredient is becoming acute. To the worries of the environmentalists, more and more brick kilns are now set to enter the trade. These kiln owners are careful. To avoid legal complications, they set up their kilns far from the ambit of relevant laws.
The whole situation reminds one of the old clashes between material progress and human wellbeing. A nation needs all-round constructions. At the same time, the unbridled building spree ought also to be restrained so that people remain out of harm's way.
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- Friday, 22 November 2024 |
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