New law to protect hills, farmland

To protect agriculture and environment from the curses of unplanned brick kilns, a new law on brick kilns has put a restriction on using agricultural and hill lands to make bricks, and has increased financial penalty and jail terms for violating the law.
The Brick Making and Kiln Establishment (Control) Act- 2013 became effective from November 20 to check unplanned growth of kilns which damage agricultural land, top soil, forest resources and pollute the environment.
Setting up modern kilns like Hybrid Hoffman Kiln, Zigzag Kiln, Tunnel Kiln or Vertical Shaft Brick Kiln has been made mandatory under the law. This means, no more traditional brick kiln is allowed in the country.
Amid the spiralling construction demands and relaxed laws, the number of kilns in the country doubled over the last eight years to 8,000.
According to Bangladesh Brick Makers Association, the kilns are mainly traditional -- energy wasting and carbon emitting. Only 52 Hybrid Hoffman kilns, that use one third energy and raw materials required by traditional kilns, have been set up so far and it will soon replace another 150 traditional ones, says the association.
With the rapid growth of construction industry, demand for bricks is rising at 5.8 percent a year and over 8.66 billion bricks are produced every year, estimates UNDP's Green Brick Project.
Green Brick Project is providing brick makers with technical support in transforming the traditional industry to a more eco-friendly one. A Brick Centre will soon be set up under the project to support brick makers with necessary research data, technical training and awareness activities.
In a bid to make the kilns more eco-friendly, the new law has proposed using clay from ponds, wetlands, rivers and shoals as raw material.
It also bans establishing kilns inside or within one kilometre radius of residential and ecologically critical areas, forest and city corporation or upazila sadar areas. For flouting the law, one can face up to five years' jail or Tk 5 lakh fine or both.
Under the new law, the penalty for using agricultural or hill lands for manufacturing bricks will be a maximum two-year imprisonment or Tk 2 lakh fine or both, and for setting up kilns without licence, it will be one year jail term or Tk 1 lakh fine or both.
The law also prohibits the movement of heavy vehicles carrying bricks on upazila and union roads. Violation of this will result in Tk 1 lakh fine.
Under the previous Brick Kiln (Control) Act, 1989, one could be fined Tk 50,000 or jailed for one year for flouting laws. Only a few violators were fined but none was jailed.
Prohibition has also been slapped on setting up kilns within half-a-kilometre radius of a hill. However, for establishing a kiln in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, approval of the CHT Development Committee will be required, the law says.
As many brick kilns have been established in restricted areas with clearance from the Department of Forest (DoF), the new law has revoked the department's clearance authority.
The kilns, built upon the DoF's approval, must be relocated in two years, otherwise, their licences will be cancelled, says the law that includes bamboo stumps and date trees in the definition of wood and has banned their use in kilns.
The new law has empowered mobile courts to hold trials of the offenders on the spot under the penal code while deputy commissioners can outright shut down a kiln and suspend its licence if it is found to be polluting the environment.
However, Project Manager of Green Brick Project Khondker Neaz Rahman thinks merely enacting a law cannot ensure its success.
"A strong law is not enough to make a difference if there is no proper institutional support for its effective implementation. To this end, a Brick Centre, which will be funded by the UNDP, is at the planning stage,” he said.
Echoing Neaz Rahman, Environment and Forest Minister Anwar Hossain Monju said, “It is easy to promulgate a law but we face difficulties when we try to enforce it. My ministry will try hard to enforce the new brick law in the interests of agriculture and environment.”