Toxic smoke from brick kilns damages crops
Farmers of Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila and Kurigram's Chilmari upazila are worried about their future.
The paddy, fruit trees, bamboo clusters and betel nut trees that they've nurtured over months have been damaged due to toxic smoke from nearby brick kilns.
The aggrieved farmers have already written to the upazila administration and agriculture department to remove brick kilns, but to no avail.
They alleged that 350 bighas of land at Karnopur village in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila and 50 bighas of land at Balabari Kisamatbanu village of Chilmari upazila in Kurigran have dried out and turned sterile due to the smoke emitted from Two Star Bricks of Lalmonirhat and Wares Bricks of Chilmari.
"I've lost 15 acres of paddy due to the brick kilns this year. No one protests against the brick kiln owners as they're quite influential," said farmer Abu Bakkar (65) of Karnopur village.
Habibur Rahman, Mogholhat union parishad chair in Lalmonirhat, said he has already talked to the brick kiln owner about the matter, but did not receive any response yet.
"We've been demanding compensation but the owners aren't paying any heed to us," said Golap Uddin (55), another farmer from Chilmari, whose three acres of his boro paddy got fully damaged, allegedly due to the toxic smoke from Wares Brick Kiln.
Contacted, Two Star Brick Kilns' owner Selim Haidar in Lalmonirhat and Wares Brick Kiln owner Wares Ali said if the crops got damaged due to toxic smoke from brick kilns, the affected farmers would be given compensation.
Shamim Ashraf, the deputy director of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Lalmonirhat, affirmed that the brick kilns are responsible for the crop damage.
The DAE officials visited the spot and submitted a report to the upazila administration, he added.
Mahmuda Masum, Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila UNO and Mahbubur Rahman, Chilmari upazila UNO said necessary steps are being taken in this regard.
Deputy Director of Rangpur DoE Mez-Babul Alam said 130 brickfields out of 170 are operating without any approval from DoE.
The list of illegal brick kilns has been placed before the local administration, he said.
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