Rajkot klins are nobody’s baby now

Kilns dot along the Aji river belt. The river does not have enough water after monsoon. So it is a good place for them. There are around 415 kilns, some 50 years old. Their daily production during the season is around five lakh bricks, making them an important part of the construction business in the city.

Ten years back, the then municipal commissioner D K Sikri had decided to shift the kilns on the ground that they were polluting environment. The second reason was that they had come in the middle of the city after the city was expanded beyond the Aji. They were offered site at Anandpur Sanosora. Everything was decided and they were ready to migrate. But the commissioner was transfered. There was never any follow-up actions.

Gogabhai Jadajibhai, who owns a kiln along the river, says they are facing three problems – shifting of kilns outside the city, heavy royalty and the ban on heavy vehichels during 9 to 1 am and 5 to 9 pm in the area.

He says the manufacturers are ready to go to the proposed site, but the government lathargy has delaying their migration.

Dilipbhai Popatbhai, another kilns owner, says during Sikri’s time, the corporation had decided to allot them 1,500 sq meter plots and provide facilities such as light and roads on the proposed site. We accepted the offer but everything got scrambled after sikri moved out. Now the governemnt is offering 500 sq meter plots with no facilites. Yet, we are ready, but the district administration seems not keen to solve our problems, he adds.

The government leavied royalty on sand on November 11. Sand is our raw material, and the levy will hit us badly, he says.

Jagdishbahi Ragajibhai, anoher kilns owner, is bitter over the ban on heavy vehicles by the police commissioner on the roads around the kilns.

Municipal commissioner Raj Gopal says that there are no klins along the river belt in any city. People working in kilns may drown during monsoon floods. An alternative site has been offered but building infrastructure there will take time.

And District Collector Pravin Trivedi also had a long discussion with the represantatives of the bricks manufacturers recently but no decision could be reached. He promised to convey their feelings to the State Government.