Building a Wider
Horizon With Labour
On the outside, Raj Kumar Yadav's brick kiln in Jhajjar district of Haryana looks like a typical unit running on "zigzag" technology. Named after an efficient firing technique employed to burn bricks, zigzag kilns have an unmistakable rectangular wall. However, a closer look shows that Yadav has just modified the kiln's wall into a rectangle. It still runs on the traditional and highly polluting fixed-chimney bull's trench kiln (FCBTK) technology, in which bricks are just lined up and burnt. According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), zigzag kilns use 25 per cent less coal than FCBTK and emit 70 per cent less suspended particulate matter.
