Many brick kilns are situated near the riverside villages in Jajpur district for which the villagers are facing lots of health hazards.
The mercury level is rising in the vicinity of brick kiln areas, particularly in the ongoing scorching summer.
“We are not coming out from our houses as the chimney of the brick kiln emits polluted ashes in our village,” alleged Subash Behera, a school teacher of Kabatabandha village.
“large numbers of brick kiln owners have been making bricks without obtaining any permission from the authority though it is mandatory for them to obtain permission from the local tehsil office. In many cases, brick kiln owners have been managing to obtain permission from the authorities by greasing palms,” said Nila Jena of Sathipur.
Despite the existence of legal norms to regulate them, about 500 brick kilns, including 60 modern chimney brick kilns, in the district have become a major cause of land degradation, soil erosion, temperature rise and air pollution. The brick kilns are mostly set up in agricultural land. They are also situated on riverbanks. The kilns dig earth continuously to produce bricks from November to May. A brick kiln spreads over three to six acres of land, produces over 10 lakh bricks annually by rendering the lands unsuitable for agriculture.
About 10 crores of bricks are produced annually in the district. A kiln uses about 300 tonnes of top soil annually to manufacture bricks. Thus, hundreds of fertile riverside lands have reportedly turned unsuitable for agriculture. Though there is a ban on setting up brick kilns in agriculture land, it is blatantly violated. Besides, continuous digging of earth also weakens the riverbanks, threatening to change the course of the rivers.
People prefer to use bricks of modern chimney brick kilns as these bricks are stronger, said kiln owner Mohammed Amin of Balichandrapur.