Brick kiln owners asked to switch to eco-friendly Zig Zag technology

Jammu: Chairman State Pollution Control Board Ravi Kumar Kesar Wednesday convened a meeting with members of Brick Kiln Association, Jammu Division here.
It was said there are 550 Brick Kilns functioning in State and 99% of Brick Kilns are using old Bull Trench Technology and the conventional biomass and firewood as fuel.
National Brick Mission has been entrusted with the job to ensure switching over to Brick Kilns from Bull Trench Technology to Zig Zag Technology within one year for non-attainment cities and two years for outside non-attainment cities, which means Brick Kilns functioning in Jammu as well as Srinagar districts have to switch over Zig Zag Technology upto October, 2019.
Ashok Gupta, AEE, J&K SPCB gave detailed presentation on the Zig Zag Technology and briefed the Brick Kilns Manufacturing Association about the benefits of switching over to new technology for it being cost effective and environment-friendly as compareed to conventional Bull Trench Technology.
Jugal Mahajan, Chairman, Brick Kiln Association on behalf of members assured full cooperation of the Brick Kilns Manufacturers and also requested for the subsidy for switching over to clean technology, as maximum unitholders are not in a position to spend huge cost required for it.
The Chairman SPCB advised unit holder to immediately switch over to the eco friendly Zig Zag Technology, as Government of India has fixed timeline to bring down carbon emissions from Brick Kilns from 750mg/Nm3 to 250 mg/Nm3 keeping in view the second major contributory of Green House Gases emissions after Thermal Gas Plants in country.
He also advised the unit holders to immediately plants saplings around their brick kilns as per directions of Jammu and Kashmir High Court.