Workshop to discuss roadmap for cleaner clay fired brick production

Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in collaboration with Greentech Knowledge Solution Private Ltd. (GKSPL) organized a workshop on ‘Roadmap for Cleaner Clay-Fired Brick Production in India’ on 8th June at New Delhi.

The objective of the workshop was to discuss the technological and regulatory road map which needs to be developed to overcome the problems in transforming the brick sector of the country. What needs to be done and how it can be achieved?

Different stakeholders were invited to provide their perspective and concern on issues and current status of technologies, regulations and markets. The workshop was divided into three sessions, each discussing one important issue associated with the resource efficient fired clay brick production.

The first session was chaired by Dr. Sameer Maithel, Director, Greentech Knowledge Solution Private Limited, which was more to understand the importance and the overall scenario of the clay fired brick sector, challenges faced by the brick entrepreneurs of different parts of the country. 

Second session was chaired by Mr. Chandra Bhushan, Deputy Director General of CSE. In this session the “National Resource Efficient Brick Mission” prepared by CSE was presented by Mr. Nivit Kumar Yadav. The presentation gave an overview of the mission, which was followed by a panel discussion to get inputs and feedback from different stakeholders. The panelist included Mr Pritpal Singh from Punjab State Council for Science & Technology, Mr Anand Damle from Ce Boer Damle (India) Pvt. Ltd., Mr Ramesh Shrivastava from Prayas Centre for Labor Research and Action, Mr Raj Kamat from Maharashtra State Pollution Control Board, Mr Milind Deore from Bureau of Energy Efficiency and a representative from Building Material Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC).

Few important points which Mr Chandra Bhushan highlighted at the end of the session are as follow: 

1. The recent trend of the sector is encouraging as the entrepreneurs are ready to learn and shift. He highlighted his past experience of early 2000, when the brick entrepreneurs had mindset blockage and didn’t want to learn and change anything. Now in 2015, the situation is reverse as they are ready to learn and accept changes. In the coming years if they want to grow they will either have to change or stop operation.
2. One structural institution needs to be developed which will ensure implementation of different rules and regulation.
3. The potential is there in the market to match the demand through production, hence demand from consumer side needs to be promoted. 

The third session discussed the “Action Plan to develop the Market for Hollow and Perforated Clay Bricks” the session was chaired by Dr S N Srinivas from United Nation Development Programme (UNDP). In the session brick entrepreneurs in the business of manufacturing hollow and perforated bricks shared their experience on the demand of such bricks in the market. Mr C N Jha of BMTPC highlighted the government initiatives taken to promote the hollow and perforated bricks. Few suggestions came in such as inclusion of such bricks in procurement schedule of government agencies like CPWD/PWD/etc.  

The other highlight of the session was the presence of some young entrepreneurs who are willing to work for the betterment of the sector. Overall perspective of the brick sector looks good, however its success depends on change and shift towards the next level.

For more details kindly contact:

Rahul Kumar
Centre for Science and Environment
Email: s_rahul@cseindia.org