Brick makers court arrest, oppose govt guidelines

Brick manufacturers across the state courted arrest on Tuesday. They are demanding exemption from the new guidelines announced by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and the state government for the brick making industry.

Representatives of a group of over 2,000 brick manufacturers of Vadodara represented the issue to the district collector Bhagyesh Jha. Similar rallies were also organised in Ahmedabad, Anand and other districts of the state. Police have detained a number of protesters across the state. They were released later in the evening.

The brick manufacturing community believes that the new guidelines to commission fix chimneys and blending 25 per cent fly ash into brick manufacturing is not feasible for the industry. They argue that the proposed guidelines are too stringent and many brick making units would have to shut shop.

"It is not possible for brick manufacturers to commission fix chimneys at the place of manufacturing as majority of brick unites are mobile. At the same time it not possible to blend fly ash with the soil to manufacture bricks in view of the quality of sand we get in Gujarat. The soil in state is too soft to mix the fly ash. In fact the fly ash would deteriorate the quality of bricks," said Jitendra Dalwadi, vice president, Gujarat Brick Manufacturers' Federation.

The manufacturers also stated that the guidelines would result in joblessness for thousands of poor workers.

Brick manufacturing involves small units that employ thousands of poor workers, added Dalwadi.

According to an estimation of sources in the industry, there are about 9,000 units including 1,000 big and 8,000 small-sized brick manufacturing units in the state. The estimated investment required to install a fix chimney is about Rs 10 lakh that is not feasible for small manufacturing units.

It is learnt that the brick manufacturing associations at district level are planning the nation wide protest after consulting the brick manufacturing associations of other states to take their movement further.