75 pc brick-kilns may close down lament owners

On the national scene, the all India association apprehended the closure of around 70 per cent of the total 40,000 brick-kilns in the country following the implementation of the notification issued recently by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Addressing newspersons here today, the All India Brick-Kiln Association, vice-president Kuldip Khanduja, said that the ministry’s notification was done at the behests of powerful industrialists. Ropar District Brick-Kiln Association president Sahibjit Sandhu said the the conspiracy was hatched by a certain lobhy so that they themselves could market their own bricks made out of the fly ash.

Sandhu asserted if the notification was not taken back, 75 per cent of the total 2400 brick-kilns in Punjab alone would close down. This would create not only financial losses to the brick-kiln owners but the building material would be costlier, he added.

The brick-kiln owners lamented that they were not given any kind of loan for adopting certain anti-pollution devices simply because the government had not regarded their units as the industry.

The brick-kiln owners have submitted a memorandum to the Centre in this regard. The memorandum said that the use of fly-ash for making bricks was a costly affair and the same could lead the small scale brick industry to a closure. They would soon meet Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to discuss the issue, Sandhu added.