Kerala - Kollam   

Clay shortage: brick units to stop production

By Our Staff Reporter

KOLLAM, APRIL 6. The brick kilns in the district will suspend production indefinitely from April 15, following an acute shortage of clay.

At a press conference here today, the president of the Kerala State Small Scale Industries Association, Milni S. Fernandez, said that there were more than 600 brick-manufacturing units, employing more than 10,000 persons, in the district. In addition to clay shortage, the units faced harassment at the hands of the police and the Mining and Geology and Revenue authorities, he said.

Trucks transporting clay with due permits were being waylaid and slapped heavy fines, he said.

The industry had always discouraged mining of clay from arable land.

However, mining could be effected in marshy areas that had been lying as wasteland. Such land could even turn arable once clay was removed, he said.

However, the authorities were not ready to allow this. They seemed to be bent upon ensuring the closure of the brick kilns in Kollam.

At the same time, they were turning a blind eye to those smuggling bricks into the State from Tamil Nadu, Mr. Fernandez added.

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