With an aim to make the existing act on brick more pragmatic and time-worthy, the government is planning to amend the Brick Making and Brickfield Establishment (Control) Act 2013.
A proposal from the Department of Environment is to be sent to the Ministry of Law in this regard.
“The current act which was passed in the parliament in November 2013 includes some shortcomings such as the obligation to set up brick kilns in specific areas. This has made the sector vulnerable,” said Solaiman Haider, a director of the department.
Citing an example of locations of brick fields in the act, he said the current act says that the brick fields must be 500 metres inside roads and at the same time they could not be in agricultural lands.
“This is conflicting. If these anomalies can be removed, entrepreneurs can be interested in setting up environment-friendly modern kilns. This is why the government is planning to make the amendment,” added Solaiman.
The Brick Making and Brickfield Establishment (Control) Act 2013, which came into effect in July 2014, clearly prohibits conventional technologies in the brick-making industry.
But most of the factories are yet to take initiatives to change their technologies. Currently, there are more than 6,500 brick kilns in the country.
The act suggests adopting energy-efficient and relatively cleaner technologies such as Zigzag, Hybrid Hoffman Kiln (HHK) and Vertical Shaft Brick Kiln (VSBK).
It prohibits establishment of brick fields in residential, protected, commercial and agricultural areas, and also in forests, sanctuaries, wetlands and Ecologically Critical Areas (ECAs).
The law says establishment of brick kilns in the prohibited areas will be treated as a criminal offence, with varying degrees of punishment for offenders to be determined by the nature of the areas involved.
Setting up a brick field in residential, protected or commercial locations will lead to a maximum punishment of five years in prison or a financial penalty of Tk50 lakh or both.
Speaking about the amendment, President of Bangladesh Brick Making Owners Association Mizanur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune the existing act has resulted in many obstacles for brick kiln owners.
“The act says no small road in rural areas should be used for carrying bricks which is totally unacceptable. At the same time, the act does not permit setting up brick kilns near large roads,” he said.
Terming the government’s move to amend the act pragmatic, Mizanur said: “The government should consider the issue of using soil type in the industry as the current act does not permit using top soil and soils from agricultural lands, which ultimately prohibits the use of all kinds of soil. The irony is that the country’s brick industry is dependent on soil as a raw material.”
The brick-making industry is one of the fastest-growing in Bangladesh, which generates a yearly revenue of around Tk866 crore.
