<i>May Day makes no difference to them</i>
NO RESPITE: Work goes on at a brickfield at Manikchhari in Rangamati on May Day, Sunday.Photo: STAR
The May Day meant no respite from toiling for them as they had to remain busy in operating machines for making soil paste, shaping it to make bricks, putting them for burning or loading the prepared bricks onto trucks under the scorching heat of the sun. During a visit to Manikchhari Bricks, a brick kiln at Manikchhari, some ten-kilometres off the district town, this correspondent saw around a hundred workers, aged between 12 to 55 years, working as usual even on the May Day on Sunday. “I have been working here for the last four months. But the owner did not give us rest for a day. We asked the manager to give us leave today. But he asked all to work,” 13-year-old Imon told this correspondent. Several others including Al-Amin, Raju, Bellal, Mujib and Mizan echoed the same. Abdul Malek, manager of the brick kiln, however, said, "I ordered all the labourers to take rest today (Sunday). But they are working at will." Brick kiln owner Tipu Mia said, "All the workers did not work last week due to rain. Each labourer has taken Tk 20,000 to 50,000 in advance. If they are allowed to take rest I will be loser." Set up in 1982 on about four acres of paddy field at Manikchhari without permission from the Department of Environment (DoE), the kiln uses firewood for burning bricks and 20-feet-long chimneys instead of mandatory 120-feet permanent chimneys, causing serious pollution to environment in the surrounding areas. Twenty five other unauthorised brickfields in different upazilas of Rangamati district are also burning bricks flouting the rules of DoE, sources said.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments