Shakeel A Khan
Early Times Report
BUDGAM, June 13: The mushrooming of brick kilns in this central Kashmir district has become a potential threat to the fragile atmosphere, threatening the lives of people. The irony is that these illegal brick kilns are operating right under the nose of the district administration.
People of the area say that the brick kilns have brought a bad name to Budgam, which is already one of the most backward areas of the state. People suggest that the government should name this district as the "Kilngam" instead of Budgam.
"Our district should no longer be called as the Budgam and it should be named as Kilngam. There are at least 200 brick kilns, with many of them illegal, operating in our district. These kilns continue to produce toxic smoke throughout the year, threatening the lives of the living beings," said Abdul Majid from Sangam, Budgam.
Majid said that besides humans, livestock and the vegetation also faces threat from these brick kilns. These brick kilns if unchecked, is going to inflict a heavy damage to the fragile ecological balance of the area, he said.
People of the area said that these brick kilns are ticking like 'Time Bombs' but unfortunately the ticking sound does not reach to the ears of the people who are in the corridors of power. Besides having its impact on the health of the people, it is badly affecting the age old culture of the area.
"Though there is provision in the Article 6 of Kiln Act of 1990 to establish the kilns, but that was subject to fulfilling many legal formalities. And the number of such kilns has to be very limited as mentioned in the brick kiln act and the land act," said Khurshid Ahmad, a resident of the Gariend village.
As per Khurshid, all these norms and rules have been thrown to the wind and as a result some 200 brick kilns have come up in the district. 200 kilns, close to each other, depicts that the rules have been violated, said Khurshid.
As per the official data available, there are some 200 brick kilns operating in the Budgam district. Out of these 200 kilns, 89 are in Tehsil Budgam, 74 in Tehsil Chadoora, 31 in Beerwa and six in Khan Sahib area, with many of them operating illegally.
"The District Development commissioner, very recently said that 20 illegal brick kilns have been locked in the district, supports the claims of the people of the area," said Ghulam Nabi from Chadoora. |
