A petition in the Madras High Court has drawn attention to illegal brick kilns operating very close to the boundary of reserve forest areas in Coimbatore district.
TMS Rajendiran, a farmer and an activist from Chinna Thadagam area in Coimbatore has filed a petition in the court seeking action against illegal brick kilns operating in five villages in the foothills of Western Ghats in Coimbatore district and an assessment into the damages caused to the ecology and the health of the general public over the years by an independent committee with experts from geology and mining, water resources, health, ecology, environment and agriculture.
While the court has posted the hearing of the case to October 17, the petition has allegedly led to members of the Brick Chambers Association and a DMK politician to issue threats to Rajendiran, if he did not withdraw his petition.
Allegations against brick kilns
According to the petition, the villages of Chinna Thadagam, Veerapandi, Nanjundapuram, Somayampalayam and Pannimadai fall under the Hill Area Conservation Authority (HACA) and require clearance from the said authority to undertake any development including any change in land use, construction and industrial activity. The petition also alleged that there are about 200 brick kilns operating in these areas without permission, engaging in illegal earth mining for the past several years.
“All these brick kilns are functioning without obtaining any permission from any authority as required under law and dig the earth varying from 3 feet to 100 feet and thereby degrading the entire landscape, defacing all water ways and making the agricultural lands situated adjacent to the quarry unfit for cultivation and thereby forcing the owners of the same to sell the lands to the quarry owners for throw away prices,” the petition alleged. The petition also claimed that TANGEDCO has provided electricity connections to these brick kilns in spite of the fact that the kilns are illegal and that the kilns employ many migrant labourers without adhering to labour laws.
“…Above said illegal activities are being carried on right under the nose of all the concerned government departments viz., Mining, Pollution Control Board, Revenue, Forest, Labour and Electricity Board for the reasons best known to them,” it added. Pointing out that the illegal brick kilns have ruined the topography of the areas, it also alleges that no permission has been granted to these kilns by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB).
A long-standing issue
The issue concerning illegal brick kilns operating adjacent to the reserve forest boundaries in Coimbatore is a long standing one. In fact, the District Forest Officer of Coimbatore Venkatesan had, in January this year, written to the Coimbatore District Collector informing him about the existence of brick kilns in the area. His letter also mentioned that these brick kilns were digging pits of 3-8 metres deep near the forest boundary to mine sand, causing the terrain difficult for elephants to negotiate. He had also urged the district administration to act against the brick kilns that are operating illegally in the region.
The activists in the area like Rajendiran have also been up in arms against these illegal kilns for a long time in the region. Brick kilns are set up in these areas due to abundance of brick sand, claim activists.
Speaking to TNM, Rajendiran had said that he had written about the brick chambers to the concerned officials in June 2019. He had also filed an RTI application with the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) requesting details about the electricity connections given to the brick chambers operating in the region consisting of five villages in Coimbatore namely Chinna Thadagam, Veerapandi, Somaiyampalayam, Nanjundapuram and Pannimadai.
Based on his application, the TNEB responded that 61 electricity connections have been provided to the brick chambers operating from the five villages in Coimbatore.
However, TMS Rajendran told TNM that these electricity connections itself are illegal in the first place.
“There is no registration of industries or anything. In fact this is a HACA region, but the brick chambers are functioning in spite of that. I took it to the knowledge of the officers on June 3, 2019. I also sent this information to the Chief Minister’s knowledge by writing to the Chief Minister’s Special Cell. They are just feigning ignorance about this and not taking any action,” he alleged.
Norms related to brick sand-mining
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, in 2013, introduced norms for brick kilns to mine brick earth operating under an area of five hectares. According to the norms, the process of extracting brick sand shall not involve ‘blasting’ and the excavation of brick earth shall be restricted to a maximum of 2 metres below the general ground level of the site. The norms also state that the borrowing/excavation activity shall not alter the natural drainage pattern of the area by blocking the path of waterflow.
However, when questioned about the norms of how deep can brick kiln operators dig, an official from the Tamil Nadu Department of Geology and Mining said that the permitted depth differs from region to region.
Though activists allege that more than 200 brick chambers are operating in these five villages alone, the government of Tamil Nadu has granted permission only 102 brick chambers all over Coimbatore district.
Speaking to TNM, department official said, “As of now we are not giving any permission for new brick chambers. We have already granted permission to 102 brick chambers in the district.”
The officer also stated that for brick chambers seeking permission to operate from HACA area, it is mandatory to have HACA clearance. “For setting up chambers in other areas, tahsildar and area revenue official clearance is sufficient,” he added.