A couple planted Boro paddy on 5 bighas of land in South Sadullah Dahaband Beel of Tabakpur Union in Ulipur upazila of Kurigram. The couple was planning to make a good living from this crop for a year by raising expenses and raising cattle. But paddy of his cultivable land was burnt 1 day ago by the heat of the brick kiln fire. Not only Haider Ali but also Abu Taher, Nurunnabi Mia, Makmal Mia, Ayub Ali, Moslem Uddin, Nazmul Islam and hundreds of other farmers of the area complained that their crops got burnt with the heat wave from brick kilns. About 130 to 150 acres of land in Dahaband Beel has been completely destroyed by the HR Brix brick fire. Not only rice but also mango, blackberry, jackfruit, litchi and all kinds of fruit and forest trees have been affected. The young leaves of the tree have fallen. Farmers in the area are demanding for a permanent solution, including compensation for the quickly burned crop, so that this does not happen again.
In addition, about 15 acres of paddy fields in Nefra area of Gunaigachha union and Kazipara area of Daldalia union have been burnt due to the heat of brick kiln.
According to a source, the number of legal and illegal brick kilns in this upazila is at least 25. However, although there are a few ebbs and flows, most of them are illegal. These brickfields are going on year after year with regular bribe to the administration.
According to the policy, there are rules for making bricks open in non-agricultural, fallow, ditches and uninhabited vacant lands, but by breaking all the laws, these open bricks have been built next to agricultural lands, inhabited and educational institutions. The land office is making the agricultural land a pond and the agriculture department is showing the crop land as non-agricultural land. In this way, the number of brick kilns is increasing day by day.
Going to the ground, it can be seen that as far as the eye can see from the brick kiln, the paddy of all the lands of the bill has turned white and yellow. As a result, the farmers of Olakar have lost their way seeing the condition of the rising crop.
Hafizur Rahman, the proprietor of HR BRICS in Dahaband Beel, admitted that his brick kiln had been damaging croplands and said, "I have been operating a brick kiln since 1995. This has never happened before." This time it has happened not only in my kiln but also in many other brick kilns in the area. He said that the affected farmers will be compensated by sitting with the farmers.
Upazila Agriculture Officer and agronomist Saiful Islam said the affected farmers had lodged a written complaint with UNO. Officials will cooperate with the farmers.
Rezaul Karmi, assistant director of the district environment department, said, "Our mobile court is running. Action will be taken as per the instructions of the higher authorities.
Upazila Nibarhi Officer Bipul Kumar said that no such complaint has been received yet. Action will be taken as per rules subject to investigation.
