PATNA: The Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB) has asked 17 brick kilns to stop production as they are operating illegally on the banks of the Ganga in and around Patna without no-objection certificate (NOC) from the board. Six out of the 17 brick kilns are in Maner, three in Patna and eight in Fatuha.“In the first phase, our focus is on some of the brick kilns in Maner, Danapur, Patna Sadar, Phulwarisharif and Fatuha areas,” BSPCB chairman Ashok Kumar Ghosh said. There are 204 registered kilns in these five areas. The state government, in its Budget for 2018-19, has asked all brick kilns in the state to shift to cleaner technology by August this year.Earlier, the kilns were functioning on the fixed chimney bull trench (FCBT) technology. These had to be converted to zigzag kilns. “FCBT consumes more coal as compared to zigzag kilns. The suspended particulate matter (SPM) emission, including pollutants like carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, from them is also comparatively more,” Ghosh said.However, he said over 90 of them in these areas, including 21 in Patna Sadar, had been converted into zigzag kilns. “Nine brick kilns (five in Maner, three in Phulwarisharif and one in Fatuha) had already converted into the zigzag technology but are yet to start operating. Whereas five kilns (three in Maner and two in Danapur) were under the process of shifting to cleaner technology,” Ghosh added. Altogether 67 of the 204 brick kilns had old technology but were shut down by the pollution control board.The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), in June 2017, had asked brick kiln owners across the country to shift from FCBT to zigzag structure as the brick kilns had been identified as a source of pollution. Following this, CPCB, in August 2017, had further asked all state pollution control boards to shut down the brick kilns causing pollution.

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