Zigzag Kilns: A Vision Unfulfilled 

Faisal Saleem

Khanewal: It is an established fact that conventionally operated kilns and burned crop residues emit black smoke and carbon, causing cardiovascular and respiratory diseases in humans.

Shams Bibi, a resident of Mushtaq Colony Khanewal, says that her father-in-law, Haq Nawaz, used to work at a nearby kiln. He suffered from breathing problems. Bibi further revealed that doctors had attributed the cause of death to asthma, stemming from the smoke emitted by kilns.

Bibi’s husband, Aftab, who although did not work at the kiln but died of asthma caused by the pollution, as the family lives in a settlement right in the middle of several kilns.

It is not easy for them to move elsewhere, thus being forced to live in polluted conditions, Bibi lamented.

Dr Yasmin Ghori of District Headquarters Hospital Khanewal says that in the past few years, during the smog season, they have seen an upward trend in patients suffering from eye or skin allergies, asthma, and lungs affected by the smoke components in the smog.

In Khanewal, when the smog becomes intense, 10 to 12 patients come to the hospital daily, she said.

Referring to the survey of the Environment Department, Environment Protection Department Assistant Director, Sarfaraz Anjum, says that kilns and industrial units cause 9 percent of pollution, vehicles 43 percent, and crop residue 20 percent.

According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, 316 kilns are active in Khanewal district, 8,414 in Punjab, and 20,000 across the country.

There are small-scale kilns in the Khanewal district with a monthly production of 400,000 to 500,000 bricks.

In 2018-19, the Department of Environmental Protection Punjab started implementing a plan to change the infrastructure of the kilns to reduce carbon emissions from the kilns for smog remediation.Under this project, kiln owners were required to install blowers in kilns, change the method of placing the bricks in the kiln from traditional to zigzag for baking bricks, and change the fuel used in baking.

The Department of Environmental Protection, National Energy Efficient Conservation Authority, and All Pakistan Kiln Associations, along with other South Asian countries, visited Nepal and learned the method of adopting zigzag technology and started teaching their labor.

Sarfaraz Anjum says that the plan to transfer 100 percent of the kilns across Punjab to Zigzag was completed in 2021.

Mohammad Sajid, working at Rahmani Bricks Company in Khanewal, says that zigzag technology was introduced six years ago, replacing the traditional method at the kilns.

In this method, the walls on both sides of the basic structure of the kiln were removed and straightened.

The traditional method of filling the kiln before baking involved placing two bricks evenly on top of each other and leaving a space between them. The fuel used was wood chips, plastic, and coal. In contrast, in the new method, bricks are paced in a zigzag pattern while only coal is being used for baking. This method produces stronger bricks with less fuel.

According to Muhammad Sajid, all the steps from placing the brick in the kiln to baking are done responsibly. It requires less effort and involves a more efficient technique. The earlier method was more labour-intensive and inefficient.

Read More:https://thepenpk.com/zigzag-brick-kilns-paving-the-way-for-low-carbon-future/

Mushtaq Khokhar, President of the All Pakistan Kiln Labour Association, says that zigzag technology has certainly benefited labourers. By the traditional method, the pace of work was slow and inefficient. With the new method, the number of “burning” workers involved in brick baking has increased from four to six per kiln, and their monthly salary has also increased from 14,000 to 20,000.

The assistant director of the environment protection department said that he did 351 inspections of kilns in the month of September 2023 in Khanewal district under Smog Prevention and Control Rules 2023.

During these visits, he imposed fines amounting to 39 lakh rupees, and warning notices were issued to 29 kilns. 17 kilns were sealed, and an FIR was registered against three kiln owners.

According to the information received from the Ministry of Environment Protection, Punjab, under the Right to Information Act, in the last fiscal year 2022–23, 1250 visits to kilns were carried out, 87 warnings were issued, fines of Rs. 2.6 million were imposed, 2 FIRs were filed, and sealing orders were issued to 35 kilns.

Similar operations were carried out throughout Punjab in the last fiscal year 2022–23. 45,000 visits were made to 8441 kilns across the province, in which a total of 99.255 million rupees were fined, 2124 kilns were sealed, and 2349 FIRs were filed.

Fazal-ur-Rehman Rahmani, President of the Kiln Owners Association of Khanewal, claims that except for a few kilns in the district, none of the kilns are properly based on zigzag. The method of burning the fuel and its application are still traditional; a clear proof of this is the black smoke coming from the chimneys of the kilns near the city.

Keeping the departmental performance aside, the ground facts are completely different.

According to my observation, smoke is still seen coming out of the chimneys of many kilns near the city, including Sattar Bricks Company Mushtaq Colony and Malik Bricks Lahore Mor.

This is a clear violation of the Smog Prevention and Control Rules.

In this regard, the assistant director of the environment protection department is of the view that the above-mentioned fines are imposed for these violations. The Environment Department has ensured that every kiln has a functional blower, quality fuel is used, and everything from filling to baking is done under zigzag technology.

However, the number of completely new zig-zag kilns in Khanewal district is 15, while necessary changes in the infrastructure of the existing kilns have been ensured. One of the major reasons for this problem not being remedied is the outsourcing of kilns. 90 percent of the kilns are operating on a contractual basis, due to which both owners and contractors avoid taking on the responsibility of working on zigzag technology.

While not all kiln labour is 100 percent trained, sometimes substandard fuel is used and the blower is turned off.

To prevent all these violations, the department visits these furnaces and fines them for the violations. If the blower is discovered closed or inactive, the owners are required to give a legal compliance guarantee that they will use alternative energy sources at all times and keep the blower active.

Similarly, the main reason for adopting the traditional method and the use of substandard fuel is the convenience of the previous method, in which they got time to relax during work by adding fuel on approximation at intervals, which is not possible in zigzag technology.

In the zig-zag technique, a small amount of fuel has to be continuously fed into the brick while ensuring a uniform supply of fire to the bricks at all times. For these reasons, kiln owners are heavily penalised for not working up to departmental standards.

Read More:https://thepenpk.com/pirowal-forest-a-story-of-neglect-and-environmental-loss/

It is noteworthy that countries around the world are increasing the use of green and clean energy fuels (solar, synthetic natural gas, green methanol, and ammonia) instead of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) to eliminate carbon emissions. Whereas in Pakistan, coal is considered a standard fuel for kilns.

Fazal-ur-Rehman Rahmani says that the kiln owners are trying to fulfil the departmental orders by making necessary changes in the existing kilns, but it would be very expensive to build a kiln in the style of zigzag technology and run it on non-fossil fuels. The cost of the whole process will increase the price of bricks and burden the  consumer.

By the Conference of Parties 2026, Pakistan would be expected to stop using fossil fuels.

 Sarfraz Anjum says in urban areas, the use of coal is safe in the summer, especially in hot, humid areas. Because the kiln chimney is 70 feet tall, the smoke dissipates in the upper atmosphere with the help of a blower, and its impact on human life is minimal.

In winter, this smoke hangs down instead of going into the air due to fog and cold and causes smog and respiratory diseases.

By adopting zigzag technology and using coal, these effects are reduced by 70 percent.

According to the monitoring system of the Environment Protection Department, there has been a clear decrease in the air quality index across Punjab.

Director of Research and Investigation Section, Department of Environmental Protection, Punjab, Dr Amir Farooq, says that when the department implemented zigzag technology for the kilns, they also installed live cameras.

These were implemented initially, but with time, the kiln owners gave lame excuses to maintain the live monitoring due to internet reach in far-flung areas and unawareness of the technology.

Due to this, the department is relying on continuous physical verifications all over Punjab. Maryam Shabbir, an environmental expert at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, says that under the Conference of Parties 2026, Pakistan has pledged to reduce the use of fossil fuels by 60 percent by 2030.

In this regard, this conference will be a great opportunity for Pakistan to overcome climate change with global cooperation.

The 9 percent pollution of kilns and other industries not only has negative effects on the environment but is also a violation of Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in which every human being has the right to have a quality life and a healthy environment.

It doesn’t seem possible in Pakistan. This can be possible only by working together on shared lines within an agreed-upon policy by all the stakeholders at the national and provincial levels.

Pakistan became a Climate and Clean Air Coalition partner in December 2017 to tackle smog and pledged to gradually reduce carbon emissions from kilns by 2024.

Whereas we are seeing some reduction, much more needs to be done with the owners playing a much more active role alongside the government to rein in this serious risk to the health of the people. The matter as it stands needs some serious attention from all the stakeholders.

Faisal Saleem is a PhD scholar in media studies and a freelance journalist. He likes to write about social, political, and climate challenges.