It is extremely worrying to note that more than one thousand brick kilns that have sprung up covering vast areas of Narayanganj, Savar and Gazipur, not far from the capital city, are playing havoc with the environment of those areas. These brick kilns are exposing the people living in those areas to serious health hazards on the one hand and contributing to destruction of the country’s forest resources on the other. A report on this appeared in a daily newspaper on Friday.

 A study based on the environment revealed that on an average every year 15,000 people die of diseases like asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory ailments triggered by air pollution caused by the smokes
released by the brick kilns near Dhaka. The brick kilns are also  destroying fertility of arable lands.              
Many of the owners of brick kilns have been running their business without licences and are using firewood instead of coal and gas for burning bricks defying the government ban and environmental rules.  Moreover,  in most cases the  kilns were set up near dwelling houses, croplands, and near forests ignoring  the governmental ban. These kilns are spreading poison in the air and the people living nearby are bearing the brunt of the menace.    On the other hand valuable fruit-bearing and  other trees are being cut down indiscriminately to obtain wood for burning bricks. Needy and gullible people living in rural areas are selling their valuable trees not knowing its adverse impact on the environment.
According to the law, a brick kiln cannot be set up within three kilometers of human settlement. But this law is being flouted outright. There are also clear instructions from the Department of Environment for setting up at least 60 feet chimney at a brick kiln. But most of the owners are not following this. As a result, smokes of the brick kilns are polluting the environment recklessly . Production of crops on  lands near the brick kilns is falling and the people living nearby are being exposed to serious health hazards.
Manufacturing of bricks is needed for the development of the country. But at the same time,  the issue of safe environment  must not be ignored.  Strong regulations must be enforced immediately  in relation to the  law breaking brick kilns.