School children are among those facing grave risk of pollution caused by haphazardly established brick kilns
While the increasing number of these haphazardly established brick factories in the heart of human settlements have already created an environmental imbalance, they have also made drinking water scarce to ordinary people. There are increased fears that all the cultivable lands could be transformed into a dry zone.
BIRAT ANUPAM
ITAHARI – It was 16 years ago. Two hard-working youths, Shailendra Kumar Chaudhary and Shiva Narayan Chaudhary, came up with a plan to establish a school in their home village, Ubhadi in then Ekamba Village Development Committee-2 in Sunsari district. After visiting several potential sites, they finally decided to establish the school near the Dakshinkali Brick Factory, which had permanently ceased its operation.
This privately-run school, which initially offered classes up to Grade II, attracted a good number of students from local communities. Away from the crowded city areas, the school had a suitable teaching and learning environment. But unfortunately, another brick industry — Himalaya Brick Industry — started production of bricks using the same old kiln deserted by Dakshinkali Brick Factory a few years later. The toxic fumes emitted by the brick kiln started coming into the school. This made difficult to figure out if the children are studying at a school or a brick factory.
The school owner Shiva Narayan made all possible efforts to shut down the brick factory. He launched a campaign to raise awareness among people in the village about air pollution and its adverse impacts on human health. The villagers even organized protest rallies to exert pressure on the brick factory owners to shut down its operation in their village. The protests could not budge the brick kiln owner, as the outgoing Ward Chairman of the Ekamba Village Tikaram Chaudhary, who enjoyed political influence and access to power centers, stood in his side.
The school now runs classes up to grade X as it was upgraded as a secondary school in the following years. The brick factory continues its operation without giving any heed to the calls of students, teachers, parents, and the local community to shut it down for the past 13 years. “Villagers agreed to make a call to not allow operating any industries that cause pollution and leave adverse impacts on human health. But people’s representative, who already held the position of ward chairman, turned stubborn,” complained Shivanarayan. “We are forced to bear the brunt of pollution on a daily basis. We are left helpless before those able to influence people in power and position.”
Worse still, the number of brick factories in the vicinity of the school is increasing day by day. One new brick factory– Ananda Brick Factory– has been established near Himalaya Brick Factory. Although Shiva Narayan protested against this move, he proved helpless in this case too. Ward Chairman of Itahari Municipality-15 Shrawan Kumar Chaudhary stood in favor of the owner of the brick factory.
“The Ward Chairman himself visited the houses of locals to collect their signatures after I launched a protest against the move to establish a brick factory,” he said. “The Ward Chairman makes money by selling away soil needed for the brick factories. He also owns several tipper trucks. He took consideration of his own business, but did not want to consider the health of locals and students and this place.”
The school has around 400 students now. Some 20 teachers and non-teaching staff have received employment opportunities in the school. It is difficult to ascertain the exact number of teachers and students who have already taken fallen ill due to respiratory diseases as a result of smoke that comes out of the brick kiln. Principal Chaudhary said some people cough black substance and the clothes hung outside for drying up in the sun in the areas adjoining to school are left with black stains. “While it is just normal in other cases we find it difficult to stay inside the school when the wind blows toward the north direction,” said Shivanarayan. “Sometimes the wind carries a foul smell of chemicals.”
Bal Aadarsha School is not the only school that has been established in the area. Another school called Little Care is also in the operation in this locality now. Although one other brick factory called Jaya Shree was also in the operation for the past several years right next to the SOS Hermann Gmeiner School, the factory was forced to shut down its operation in last September following strong protests from locals.
According to Principal of SOS Herman Gmeiner School, the brick industry came into operation since 2006 — some 13 years after the SOS Herman Gmeiner School came into the operation. But since the SOS School that has a huge reputation among people strongly raised the voice against the pollution it caused in the areas, the owner of the factory decided to close its operation.
In addition to Himalaya and Jaya Shree Brick factories, many other brick industries such as Pabitra, Jaya Baba, Puja, and Ananda bricks factories are also operating in the vicinity of these schools. A number of other brick factories in the district are operating in the heart human settlements without any regulations on the part of government authorities concerned.
Water Sources Dry Up
The direct impact of the brick factories established in the heart of dense human settlements has been on the sources of groundwater. Locals have started experiencing that the handpumps that extracted underground water now have started drying up. A local Kala Kafle, who lives in the area where Jaya Shree Brick Factory once operated, said their handpumps that extracted underground water have gone dry in recent years. “We are not an exception to this. Both handpumps and a deep wells in our neighborhood have dried up in recent years,” she said. Locals have got some relief after the World Vision, an INGO, helped them set up a tubewell that was dug far deeper than any other tubewells in the community.
Mukti Bhandari, who also lives in Kafle’s locality in Itahari Municipality-16, is facing similar woe after the water dried up in his automatic tubewell a few months ago. “We are left wondering what measure to adopt to avail drinking water after the automatic tubewell dug up to 150 feet deep also dried up lately,” he said. “This is not the problem of mine alone. All people living in this settlement face the same problem.”
A large number of farmers have stopped getting water for irrigation due to brick factories established in Ekamba, Labipur, and the areas adjoining to Ekamba canal. Since the machines that are used to dry up bricks generate maximum heat almost round the clock basis the humidity of the soil in the adjoining areas also dries up, according to Assistant Professor at Department of Agriculture Engineering of Purbanchal Engineering Campus in Dharan. Locals say that it is natural to see the depletion of underground water as the burning of coals in the brick factories generates heat up to 1100 degrees Celcius.
While the increasing number of these haphazardly established brick factories in the heart of human settlements have already created an environmental imbalance, they have also made drinking water scarce to ordinary people. There are increased fears that all the cultivable lands could be transformed into a dry zone.
Shyam Ghimire, a local of Labipur, Itahari, is passionate about carrying out farming activities. Although he started farming in three Bigha of land along with his own nine Kattha of land with a high hope, Ghimire was left disappointed after could carry out farming barely for two crop seasons. “I came here with an ambitious plan to involve in farming activities. But since there are brick factories in this area, water sources started drying up further. The land was not humid enough for farming crops and vegetables. Now I have switched to animal husbandry,” said Ghimire.
Although he knew already that his village once had a brick factory, Ghimire was unaware that the land that once housed brick factory would have less fertile soil. As there was less agricultural productivity due to less fertile soil, Ghimire irrigated cow urine in the land to restore its fertility. Despite his efforts, this desert-like place has failed to be fertile again.
Like Ghimire, a large number of farmers living in Balgram Chowk and the areas adjoining the Ekamba canal are almost displaced from farming. Ashri Chaudhary, who is a resident of the Pokhari area in Itahari Municipality-15, also shared her experience that they have started receiving low agricultural productivity since brick industries were established in their locality. Her farm lies near Ananda Brick Factory in Itahari-15. “We used to receive around 40 Man (1,600 kg) of rice in 10 Kattha of land earlier,” she said. “We could not produce half of that amount this year.” She has also planted some pulse items, but these crops also have low yields.
The family of Anil Kumar Chaudhary, who lives in the Majara Tole in the suburb of Itahari, was also in the farming profession until a few years ago. But he quit the farming profession and started working as a driver of a students’ bus of a private school. “When I was about four to five years old, my parents and relatives would be always busy in farming activities,” said Chaudhary, who is in his late 30s. “But people started selling away their land to brick factories for their immediate benefits. The land of those still relying on farming also dried up gradually as a result of brick factories. Almost all villagers were forced to desert their ancestral place.”
The effects of brick factories continue to stay for a longer period even as they are closed. “When brick factories are in operation, it erodes the humidity that exists in the land adjoining to them. But when they are closed, the fertility of the soil is left completely eroded,” Ghimire, who lives in Shivalaya Tole, shared his own experience. “No matter how much water you put in the land, it stays like a barren land.”
There is no exact statistic as to how many farmers have been already displaced by over half a dozen brick factories that are either already closed or are still in operation in Ekamba, Pakali, and Khanar areas of the Itahari Municipality. Locals, however, say that dozens of farmers are forced to quit farming every year. “Most brick factories are built in the fertile areas where wheat and paddy are normally cultivated,” said the school Principal Chaudhary. “The brick factories established without any plans have almost displaced farming profession here. Unable to get good agricultural productivity, even those with enough land are forced to eat food grains bought from the market.”
Laxity in the Implementation of Existing Laws
According to a study conducted by the SAARC Energy Center in Islamabad in 2013, there are a total of 728 brick industries across Nepal. The latest statistics show that some 1,000 brick factories are currently in operation in Nepal.
President of Koshi Zonal Brick Entrepreneurs Association Mahendra Shah said a total of 43 chimneys belonging to 33 brick factories are emitting thick smokes in different parts of Sunsari, Morang, Dhankuta and Terhathum districts in Koshi zone. He said that 33 of these Chimneys are currently in operation in the Sunsari district alone.
The establishment of brick factories in the heart of human settlements has given rise to respiratory-related diseases among local people, according to Dr. Sujan Gautam. Polluted thick smokes and dust particles and chemical gas emitted by the brick kilns are fatal to human health. Brick kilns emit various poisonous gases such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxide. These gases not only weaken the immunity power of human beings but also deplete the ozone layer in the atmosphere.
Despite grave threats brick factories are posing to human settlements and the environment, local government administration has not felt any urgency to regulate the operation of brick factories. A Pollution Control and Prevention Regulation, 2075 BS formulated by Itahari Municipality is currently gathering dust in its cardboard shelve.
The Regulation prepared in accordance with the rights given in the Section 7 Environment Protection Regulations, 2054 BS (Amended in 2056 BS) to control and prevent pollution of various 55 types of industries as outlined in the schedule 7 has a number of rules, objectives, and goals. Rule 3 of the Regulation clearly states that a clean and healthy environment shall be promoted to help minimize adverse effects of environmental degradation on humans, wildlife, plants, and physical goods within the jurisdiction of Itahari Sub-Metropolitan City.
But these provisions of Regulation are nowhere seen to be followed or regulated, according to local environmental activist Sandeep Paudel, who runs a campaign called Keep Itahari Clean. Paudel argues that although human settlements and factories are both necessary they should have their scope, structure and jurisdiction. “Local government is also at fault to endorse house maps to establish factories in human settlements or schools or set up human settlements in the vicinity of factories,” he said.
Similarly, a provision to establish a laboratory to analyze pollution samples as per Rule 3 (J) of the Local Government Regulations has also failed to come into the implementation. The pollution level of none of the brick factories in the area has been measured at the level of the government so far. On March 12, 2014, a national standard certified Soil Test Private Limited under Environmental Assessment and Material Testing Division had measured the pollution level of a brick factory. This found that the SPM limit was 700 square meters against the criteria set by the government for natural drought chimney. Natural drought chimney should have 500 square meters as per the government criteria.
When asked about this contradictory situation and negligence shown by the authorities concerned for the implementation of these rules, Environment Protection Officer of Itahari Sub-Metropolitan City Pushpa Narayan Chaudhary admitted that they have failed to act enough in this regard. “Local governments have not been able to do as much as they should have done as they have just started the practice to act as per the new structure and system of governance,” he said.
Buffer Zone and Drain: No Clarity in its Concept
Environment Protection Officer Chaudhary said the government has closed ‘mobile chimney’ initially known as Chandra in brick factories to make a transition toward the improved ‘fixed draft’ and ‘forced draft’ chimney. Chaudhary argued that ‘forced draft’ chimney that takes air from outside and passes it through the circuitous pipe to burn coil is far better than any other mobile chimney made up of zink sheets. He admitted that most brick industries in Itahari have been using a medium fixed draft chimney. “We have developed a rule to provide temporary or permanent pollution control certificates after making a thorough inspection of the pollution level. This will be implemented gradually,” he said.
Although there are different Acts and Regulations, Chaudhary admits that they have not been able to give proper attention to the tasks of developing a buffer zone and taking up personal safety measures seriously. “One brick kiln generates up to 1100 degree temperature. This heat dries up all water holdings in its vicinity,” he said. “A 10 to 12 feet deep drain can be built to save water holdings to prevent such a situation. But this practice has not started anywhere in Nepal yet.”
Chaudhary argues that they have faced the problem as there is no rule to keep a buffer zone in the areas where brick industries have been established. “These kinds of factories should be established at least two kilometers away from human settlements to avoid the adverse impact of pollution created by brick factories on a daily basis,” he said.
Brick factories based in Itahari Sub-Metropolitan City
1. Himalaya Brick Factory
2. Pabitra Brick Factory
3. Jaya Shree Hari Brick Factory
4. Jaya Baba Brick Factory
5. Puja Brick Factory
6. Aananda Brick Factory
