Illegal brick kilns run as actions rare

The district administration is yet to take any action against 27 brick kilns, which have been continuing operations without obtaining any license from Department of Environment (DoE) for years.

Most brick fields on farmlands have been polluting environment seriously for long, said locals.

Officials of the district administration and DoE in Rangpur said there are 47 brick fields in Lalmonirhat. Of those, 20 have valid documents while the rest are running illegally. There is no office of DoE in Lalmonirhat.

Azizul Islam, 65, a farmer of Purbo Saradubi village in Hatibandha upazila, said they have recently submitted written complaints to the district administration and DoE authorities to take steps against an illegal brick kiln on a crop land in the area but no action was taken yet due to unknown reasons.

“Our farmlands and village roads are being badly damaged due to an illegal brick kiln in the area,” said another farmer Shamsul Islam, of Doljor in Aditmari upazila.

Despite repeated pleas, the district administration is yet to take any action against the illegal brick kiln owner, he said.

Mezbah Ul-Alam, deputy director of DoE in Rangpur, said taking help from local administration, they have been conducting drives against illegal brick fields in seven districts in the division except in Lalmonirhat.

They communicated with the Lalmonirhat district administration about the drive several times, but to no respond yet.

Contacted, Lalmonirhat Deputy Commissioner Shafiul Arif said they are always ready to conduct mobile court drives against illegal brick fields, but DoE officials are yet to place any requirement for this.

An alleged illegal brick field owner, Lutfar Rahman in Hatibandha upazila, claimed that he is running the kiln following DoE rules.