Brick kilns working at night: Farmers’ union

Coimbatore: Flouting a sealing order of the Madras high court, more than 10 brick kilns in Thadagam Valley continue to operate between 11pm and 4am, representatives of Tamilaga Vivasayigal Sangam said.

Though officials claim to have sealed 187 kilns, some were not sealed entirely, said V Venugopal, secretary of the association. “Tangedco had disconnected power only to brick manufacturing units. Kiln owners are using power supply to their offices to switch on lights and are sending out brick loads,” he said. “Tipper lorries continue to take loads of bricks from kilns in the dead of the night. Lorries frequent the kilns between 3am and 4am. They take only half loads, so that bricks are not visible from the outside,” he said.

The association has written to the state chief secretary, principal secretaries of energy and power resources and departments of revenue and pollution control board about the illegal operation, Venugopal added.TNN