Brick field on farmlands

A brick field is being set up on farmland in Mojumdar Bazar area of Krishna Nagar union under Sadarpur upazila of the district before getting permission from the Directorate of Environment (DoE).

Locals allege that Md Aklas Fakir of Shoildobi village has started setting up the chimney and the brick yard of MAF Brick Field-2 on farmland without any permission from the DoE. He had built another brick field 50 yards away three years ago, they added.

Sources at the DoE of Faridpur said Aklas applied to them on September 6 for permission to build the second brick field, but they have not given permission yet.

Locals said production of crops has decreased in the last three years due to the smoke, ash and dust of the brick field. If he builds another brick field here, they will not be able to cultivate any crops, they added.

Farmer Shahidul Khan said, "I have a piece of farmland between the two brick fields, so Aklas is putting pressure on me to sell it to him."

Tapon Toyli of the area said he would get 200-250 maunds of eggplant on his one bigha of land before the first brick field was built, but now he got only 30-40 maunds. The smoke, ash and dust from the field destroyed all the flowers and leaves of the vegetables, he added.

Agriculture Officer of Sadarpur upazila Md Faradul Miraj said he will visit the area and try to find out the problems that the farmers may face in future.

Sub-director of Faridpur DoE Md Safate Ullah Talukdar said he did not know how Aklas got permission to build the field on farmland. He added that Aklas had applied to DoE for permission for a second brick field, but they have not given it yet.

He added that they would take steps after visiting the spot.

Aklas said he had followed all the rules of the DoE when building his first brick field.