Chandigarh: The Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) today said it has proposed banning the firing of brick kilns from October to January to improve the ambient air quality. It has also issued a public notice under Section 31-A of the Air (Prevention and control of Pollution) Act-1981, seeking objections on banning the firing of brick kilns in winter months, a release issued by the board said. There are about 3,000 brick kilns in the state and each brick kiln manufactures about 70-80 lakh clay bricks every year using coal as a fuel which generates the air emission containing particulate matter, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and oxides of sulphur.   

Although the board has fixed 750 mg/Nm3 as the emission standards for these brick kilns these prescribed emissions standards or even lower levels of emissions leads to pollution load discharged into the atmosphere, especially during winter months, the release said.   About 40 percent of these brick kilns start firing of kilns in October after the rainy season. In winter months, the ambient air quality declines considerably due to various reasons like stubble burning in open fields after paddy harvesting, bursting of firecrackers during festivals and marriage functions, dust emissions in the fields due to harvesting of crops and cleaning of grains in the grain markets.   

Poor dispersion of dust particles due to fall in temperatures, rise in humidity and reduced wind speed also adds to environmental gradation during winter months, it said.   In addition, the ambient air quality in winter gets worsened due to reduced rainfall leading to dust getting airborne as well as low level of the settling of suspended particulate matter. The board has observed that the coal consumed by brick kilns during winter months is about 12.0 tonne per one lakh bricks as compared to the summer season when it is 10 tonne per lakh bricks and therefore increased coal consumption creates harmful effects on the environment, the release said. 

KS Pannu, chairman of the board, said to combat this fall in the ambient air quality, the board had already issued a direction to the brick kilns to switch over to the new zig-zag technology by the next season which will increase the production capacity of brick kilns by about 15 percent.   This increase in capacity shall offset the loss of production of bricks, if any, due to non-operation of brick kilns in the winter months. Hence, it is now proposed that these bricks kilns shall operate from February 1, till September 30 every year, which shall improve the ambient air quality in Punjab in the winter months. PTI