Staff Reporter :
A large number of brick kilns across the country have been using firewood posing serious threat to natural environment and human health.
Besides, a good number of them have also been operating inside different forests.
Though these firewood brick kilns have been posing serious threat to human health and natural environment, the local administration is yet to take any noticeable action to check the menace.
Industry insiders said, on an average around 200 maunds of wood are used in each of these brickfields.
According to the ‘Brick Kiln Amendment Rule 2001 and Environment Conservation Act 1995 (amended in 2010)’, brick kilns should not be constructed around three kilometres of dwellings or crop fields, and they are not allowed to use old types of low-height (less than 120 feet) chimneys and logs for brick burning.
But almost all the brickfields are situated within the close proximity of dwellings or crop fields defying the rules mainly because of ignorance of local administration.
On October 2, 2012, the Department of Environment (DoE) issued a notice asking brick kilns to convert into modern technology-based non wood-usable ones like zigzag, Hybrid Hoffman and vertical shaft kilns, official sources said.
However, the Bangladesh Bank a couple of years ago has initiated a financing programme to convert the traditional brickfields to an environment-friendly one by offering soft loans.
But responses from the entrepreneurs are very poor. The number of loan receivers, according to central bank official, is very poor mainly for lack of complicated formalities of eligibility.
Meanwhile, the brickfields are at random use of soils digging of croplands, a clear violation of government acts on the sector.
An owner of a brickfield in city’s Gabtoli area preferring anonymity said they use wood managing the authority in exchange of a handsome amount every season.
“Converting a traditional brickfield to a modern and environment-friendly one is huge cost involving,
so we prefer running the fields by managing the authority,” he added. “This money even goes to the top management of the government, so we are out of danger or to face closure and other threats,” he said.
The government had taken a number of initiatives, including improving the brick kiln industry and introducing modern transportation systems, with a view to improving the air quality, Raisul Alam Mondal, Director-General of the Department of Environment told The New nation on Tuesday.
He said the ‘Brick Making and Brick Field Establishment (Control) Act 2013’ prohibits operation of the old-fashioned brickfields in the country.
He said the DoE has already set up air quality monitoring stations in eleven cities, including Dhaka, Narayanganj, Gazipur, Rajshahi, Chittagong, Khulna and Sylhet.
A large number of brick kilns across the country have been using firewood posing serious threat to natural environment and human health.
Besides, a good number of them have also been operating inside different forests.
Though these firewood brick kilns have been posing serious threat to human health and natural environment, the local administration is yet to take any noticeable action to check the menace.
Industry insiders said, on an average around 200 maunds of wood are used in each of these brickfields.
According to the ‘Brick Kiln Amendment Rule 2001 and Environment Conservation Act 1995 (amended in 2010)’, brick kilns should not be constructed around three kilometres of dwellings or crop fields, and they are not allowed to use old types of low-height (less than 120 feet) chimneys and logs for brick burning.
But almost all the brickfields are situated within the close proximity of dwellings or crop fields defying the rules mainly because of ignorance of local administration.
On October 2, 2012, the Department of Environment (DoE) issued a notice asking brick kilns to convert into modern technology-based non wood-usable ones like zigzag, Hybrid Hoffman and vertical shaft kilns, official sources said.
However, the Bangladesh Bank a couple of years ago has initiated a financing programme to convert the traditional brickfields to an environment-friendly one by offering soft loans.
But responses from the entrepreneurs are very poor. The number of loan receivers, according to central bank official, is very poor mainly for lack of complicated formalities of eligibility.
Meanwhile, the brickfields are at random use of soils digging of croplands, a clear violation of government acts on the sector.
An owner of a brickfield in city’s Gabtoli area preferring anonymity said they use wood managing the authority in exchange of a handsome amount every season.
“Converting a traditional brickfield to a modern and environment-friendly one is huge cost involving,
so we prefer running the fields by managing the authority,” he added. “This money even goes to the top management of the government, so we are out of danger or to face closure and other threats,” he said.
The government had taken a number of initiatives, including improving the brick kiln industry and introducing modern transportation systems, with a view to improving the air quality, Raisul Alam Mondal, Director-General of the Department of Environment told The New nation on Tuesday.
He said the ‘Brick Making and Brick Field Establishment (Control) Act 2013’ prohibits operation of the old-fashioned brickfields in the country.
He said the DoE has already set up air quality monitoring stations in eleven cities, including Dhaka, Narayanganj, Gazipur, Rajshahi, Chittagong, Khulna and Sylhet.
