Editorial
Illegal brickfields and sawmills
High Court ruling should be acted upon
A recent High court rule has focused on the removal of brickfields and sawmills running illegally in 11 districts. The rule will no doubt put pressure on the government to intensify its actions to reduce the environmental hazards that these factories are causing.
The situation no doubt, is critical. Illegal brickfields use unsafe and outdated chimneys in defiance of environmental rules; they pollute the air and adversely affect soil fertility and plantations. This has been the findings of none other than the Department of Environment (DoE) which has been trying to control the situation through fines and arrests. Newspapers especially this one, have been very diligent in reporting both the offending parties and the government's endeavours to hold them accountable.
All this has still not been enough to remove the hazards. According to the Brick Kiln Amendment Rule 2001, brick kilns should not be constructed around three kilometres of any human habitation, house, road and highway or crop field. But even a cursory tour around various districts shows that there are hundreds of brickfields around these sites. As many as 103 out of 245 brick fields in six districts of Barisal division continue their illegal operations ignoring the prohibitions of the DoE. People living near such fields have said that officials are lax in monitoring these brickfields that unrestrainedly use wood as fuel in the kilns which is also a violation. All this is resulting in an health hazards and continued degradation of arable lands
The government obviously needs to step up its actions to stop these illegal activities and remove such factories from places where people live, commute and grow crops. These may require an increase in manpower in the DoE to monitor brickfields and saw mills and punish those that defy the environmental rules. This continuous poisoning of the environment must stop immediately.
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