With fewer takers for bricks, kilns turn ghost chambers

COIMBATORE: N Selvaraj, a

brick kiln

owner on 24 Veerapandipudur Road in

Coimbatore

district, has been in distress for the past three years. His annual revenue has fallen by 75% and in the past few months the situation has worsened. He used to sell nearly 15 truckloads of bricks, with 3,000 bricks in each truck, every day. But now hardly two loads are sold in a week. Selvaraj is now in a fix as he has taken huge loans and is apprehensive about taking up any other business.

Nearly 30% of the brick kilns that dotted the Thadagam,

Chinna Thadagam

, Kanuvai and Veerapandipudur areas in Coimbatore have shut down their chambers.

Increase in sand prices and curbs on land registrations, which hit the construction sector, have in turn affected the brick kiln manufacturers. The revenue from the business has come down by 50% and many of the chambers only run half time. The revenue for Coimbatore district has fallen from Rs 50 crore to Rs 20-25 crore in the past one year.

P Dharmaraj, secretary of the brick manufacturers association and owner of Ramya chamber bricks, said, “The first blow to the industry was when new building registrations were stopped last September. After that came demonetisation. A spike in sand prices followed and and now the GST is an issue. Even before all this, the real estate business was not doing well for the past three years due to land registration issues in added areas,” he said. He said many manufacturers have shut down their chambers and are waiting for a favourable time to start them.

C Murugesan, owner of SMP bricks, said though he ran a small industry, he used to sell more than 10 loads of bricks every day. “Hardly one or two are sent these days. We are extremely stressed. If this continues, we will also have to shut down like the others,” he said.

S Aanandan, another manufacturer, said they had requested the civil engineers associations to represent to the government to resolve the sand price issue. “Currently, the rate of each load has also fallen by Rs 5,000. In the Chinna Thadagam and nearby areas, 60% of the chambers are owned by local people and the remaining by people from Madurai, Theni and other districts. Most of these people had taken the land on lease for running the chambers. They have all left the city,” he said.

J Vijayakumar, secretary of the Coimbatore civil engineers association, said that in July they petitioned local administration minister S P Velumnai and other authorities. They also conducted two protests to regularise sand prices and land registration. “We were promised that steps would be taken to improve the sector. It was not just brick kilns, all the sectors associated with real estate and construction have been badly affected,” said Vijayakumar.