17,000 UP brick kilns to stop ops to protest NGT order

Piqued by an NGT order that necessitated brick kiln units to procure Environment Clearance Certificate (ECC) from Pollution Control Board (PCB) before commencing operations, 17,000 units in Uttar Pradesh here have decided to stop operations this year.
According to head of Janpad Ent Nirmata Samiti Santosh Kansal, the brick kiln owners will hold a protest rally on November 5 in Lucknow to demand rollback of the order.
Kansal rued that they are already required to procure a dozen NOCs from various departments of the government before commencing their trade and getting ECC will make the task even more difficult.
The prominent NOCs they have to procure as per current rules are those from PCB for water and air pollution, Zila Panchayat, Revenue, Mining and Labour Department.

Kansal described as "stringent" the provision under the ECC that makes it mandatory to get in writing the consent of field owners neighbouring a unit before digging mud.
Other provisions like ban on manual digging of mud, 500 metre distance between two kilns, area to be dug after providing covering around it, are conditions impossible to be implemented, he said.
The UP government had allowed manual digging of mud in less than five acres which, under the ECC, is to be done mechanically now, he said.
Kansal also noted that brick kiln units are high employment generating industry at low investments and said that the closure of these will pose massive unemployment problem.