Political economy behind failure to shut down unlawful brick kilns

There are 8,500 brick kilns operating in the country at present, according to the department of environment. Half of them do not have environmental clearance. Around over 140 million tonnes (14 crore tonnes) of soil is required annually to run these brick kilns which are a major source of air pollution. The bricks are manufactured with the fertile top soil of cropland, damaging the nutritional value of the soil and posing as a threat to our food security.

While there are drives against these illegal brick kilns, the problem remains unresolved. According to records of 2024, around 1,000 illegal brink kilns had been shut down in a drive of the department of environment, but 75 per cent of these have started operating all over again.

On 24 February the High Court ordered all illegal brick kilns in the country to be demolished within four weeks. All divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners were instructed to carry out these orders. The failure of the administration in this regard was also highlighted. Orders were passed for the director general of the environment department and five divisional commissioners to appear in person on 17 March to explain why they failed to take effectives measures to shut down unlawful brick kilns. The question is, why is the administration unable to shut down brick kilns at a local level?

The Brick Kiln Control Act of 1989 authorised the union parishad (UP) chairmen to take decisions on this matter. Alongside legal fees, Tk 5000 would have to be paid to the chairmen. However, there was scope for bargaining because as the UP chairmen were politicians, they would need the support of the local businessmen.

The law was changed in 1992 and this authority was transferred from the chairmen to the deputy commissioners. The licence renewal fee was increased from Tk 5000 taka to Tk 10,000 . And as the law strongly prohibited burning of firewood, the police would also have to be "managed" in order to evade the law. In 2001 the law was amended and these "transactions" increased. After all, most of the brick kilns were unable to follow the stringent rules and so the "transactions" simply went up.

According to the Environmental Conservation Act 2010 and the Brick Kiln Control Act 2013, no brick kilns can be set up within a one kilometre radius of residential areas, forest land and wetlands. It is also illegal to set up brick kilns on croplands. But most of the brick kilns in the country are violating these laws.

Section 4 of the Brick Manufacturing and Kiln Establishment (Control) (Amendment) Act 2019 says no one can establish a brick kiln and manufacture bricks without obtaining a licence from the deputy commissioner. But the district administration takes a large chunk of money from the owners of the brick kilns for the locally generated LR (local resources) Fund. Given this circumstance, how feasible is it not to provide the brick kiln licence or to close down any unlawful brick kiln?

According to government regulations, when ministers or senior officials visit the districts and upazilas, they get a separate daily allowance for their stay and meals. Their expenses are met with that allowance. But the food and stay expenditure for the VVIPs and VIPs accompanying them is met with the LR Fund.

Such funds are also collected from the industries and local businessmen in various district and upazilas around the country to arrange various events on special days and state programmes. The owners of the illegal brick kilns contribute significantly to such funds.

There are allegations that the local administration does not take action against these illegal establishments because of the LR Fund. The civil society often protests against such fund collection, but this system has simply continued down the years.

Akbar Ali Khan, in the second chapter of his book 'Porarthoporotar Orthoniti' written 22 years ago, when deliberating on the characteristics of the country's economy, called it a 'son-of-a-swine economy'. He wrote, a society with propensities towards corruption, degenerates very rapidly. Due to corrupt practices, environmental laws are not properly implemented. In such economies, work cannot be carried out even with bribes.

A World Bank report says the district committees of the Bangladesh Brick Manufacturing Owners Association (BBMOA) make annual payments to the LR Fund of the respective districts. Payments must be made to the Nezarat Deputy Collector (NDC) to set up new brick kilns, but no receipt is given for the purpose.

Bribes must also be paid to the office of the surveyor and assistant commissioner (land) because it is through them that the relevant report is sent to the deputy commissioner's office. Also, "toll' must be paid every year to the district level ruling party leaders and "mafia" groups.
How are these brick kilns continuing to operate year after year, without bothering about the laws? According to a recent report in a local daily, the brick kiln owners stated that each of them have to pay up to Tk 400,000 to Tk 1 million (Tk 4 lakh to Tk 10 lakh) every year to "manage" the administration. They have to "sponsor" various events of the district and upazila administration. Funds are sought from the brick kiln owners before these events.

According to the brick kiln owners, they are informed in advance if any drive is to be launched. There are syndicates in the upazila and district offices. Sometimes the relatives of the upazila office officials are supplied with bricks at reduced rates, sometimes even for free. In every district the brick kiln owners associations have to "manage" the administration.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a certain upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) said, "This happens in many places." About the kiln owners being informed in advance about any drive to take place, he said, "When we go on a drive, the upazila administration, the police, the fire service and other government agencies all go together. It is hard to ensure that anyone from among these does not leak out the news of the drive in advance."

On 26 January this year, the owner of a brick kiln in Baldhara union of Singair upazila, Manikganj, complained that they had to pay Tk 196,000 (Tk 1 lakh 96 thousand) in bribes to the environment department's district office inspector Abdur Razzak on 10 February last year to renew their brick kiln clearance, but this will still not renewed. And audio record of their transaction was recently released on Facebook. The conversation revealed that a few kiln owners received environmental clearance after paying large sums of money.

The World Bank report mentioned that in order to get the environment management plan clearance, the environment department officials have to be bribed. As many of the brick kiln owners have no idea how to prepare this management plan, certain officials of the environment department take money in exchange of drawing up the plan.

The brick kiln owners say that they are not consulted when the laws are drawn up. They say that these laws are intentionally made complicated so as to facilitate bribery. Akbar Ali Khan in his book advised that the people of countries like ours should tell the government, "Sir, we do not want any benefits from you, just kindly control you sons of swine."

Speaking to several officials of the local administration, it was learnt that the cabinet division had spoken about a yearly audit of the LR Funds and this has given it a sort of legitimacy. These funds are arranged in two manners. One is through the bank. The other is through cash transactions and this does not show up in the audit. However, a UNO said that when they take cash for the LR Fund, they deposit that in the district commission account.

When asked about allegations that the local administration does not cooperate with the department of environment, the UNO said, "I myself sentenced an illegal brick kiln owners to 30 days imprisonment last month. But when I asked the department of environment to file a case, they just imposed a Tk 30,000 fine and released him."

The UNO said, it is illegal to remove the top soil of cropland and so most of the time this soil is removed for the brick kilns at night. There are on average 20 constables on night duty in his upazila. That is why the owners of the brick kilns pay Tk 1,500 in bribes every day. They make monthly payments too. This UNO said with confidence, "If the government so wants, it will take seven days maximum to shut down the illegal brick kilns. But no one wants that."

It is illegal to set up brick kilns in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. According to a Prothom Alo report, there are 119 illegal brick kilns there. Meanwhile, on 4 January the High Court issued orders for action to be taken so illegal brick kilns can't operate in the hill tracts.

When contacted about the matter, a senior official of the administration in the area said, "The High Court order said to stop brick kilns in the hill tracts, not to evict them. In most cases we shut down brick kilns within just an hour with the help of the fire service. But they simply start up against within a short span of time. Unless they are fully evicted, closing them down temporarily is not a solution."

This means that there is no coordinated planning between the department of environment, the local administration and the law enforcement agencies. So the drive to shut down illegal brick kilns is nothing but a cat-and-mouse game.

Construction must continue and the environment must also be protected. This calls for a pragmatic solution. Block bricks are seen as an alternative, but according to official reports, block bricks meet less than 5 per cent of the country's demands. And the government has broken its commitment to the businessmen of this sector too.

At a roundtable organised by Prothom Alo, one such businessmen complained that after being given assurance by the government, he invested Tk 800 million (Tk 80 crore) in environmental-friendly brick manufacturing. It was said that bricks would be bought from him for government projects. However, that commitment hasn't been kept.

Most of the large infrastructure projects in the country are government projects. If block bricks were used in these projects, the people would be able to see the sustainability and financial viability of these bricks. That would create confidence in these bricks. For the last 250 years or so, we haven't been able to break away from Adam Smith's theory of rational choice. That means, to the common people, the permanence and financial feasibility of bricks will take precedence over the environment.

When it comes to resolving the problems of brick kilns, the legal aspects of the country's political economy must be taken into consideration. While Bangladesh is first among South Asian countries to have a law pertaining to brick kilns, questions have been raised regarding its practicality. It is time to think about the issue anew.

*Khalilullah is Climate Project Manager at Prothom Alo.
* This column appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir