No bricks to be sold in Ludhiana till September 17

LUDHIANA: As part of their ongoing protest campaign against the Centre government, brick kiln owners in the city have decided to stop the sale of bricks for six days, starting Monday. This might make things difficult for the construction industry and impact ongoing residential and commercial construction projects. Already, there has been no production of bricks as brick kiln owners suspended production to protest against hike in GST and prices of raw material, especially coal.
Ramesh Mohie, president, Punjab Brick Kiln Association, said, “We have been forced to observe bandh because the Centre government failed to accept our demands. For the last few years, despite availability of coal from natural sources in India, the government has been promoting imported coal, which is sold by a few corporate houses that started exploiting the brick kiln industry by inflating the rate of imported coal from Rs 4,000 per ton to Rs 30,000 per ton. Also, from April 1, 2022, the Centre government hiked the rate of GST on bricks from 5% to 12%, which dealt a deadly blow to us.”
He added that the rate of GST was reduced from 18% to 5% on fly ash bricks, which have been declared dangerous by several independent research bodies due to the health hazards they pose.