State to make registration mandatory for all brick kilns operating illegally

Kolkata: The state government has decided to make registration mandatory for all the brick kilns which have been operating illegally. The government after a review will give registration to the brick kilns which have not yet obtained legal status.

For this, a portal is being developed where all the brick kilns will have to upload all the necessary documents. The portal will exclusively be used for the registration of these brick kilns. They will have to furnish information relating to total areas of the brick kiln and other information on the portal. After examining their documents, the state government will consider what amount of royalty can be charged on the brick kilns if they fulfill the required criteria prerequisite for the assessment. The state government may give clearances after the brick kilns pay the royalties. The portal which will be developed by the government will not only give registrations to the brick kilns but will also help the government in collecting revenues.

The BLROs will visit all the brick kilns to physically verify if they were giving proper information and uploading the right documents on the portal. The state government was in the process of simplifying norms for registration of kilns and thus, many unregistered kilns could now be brought within the ambit of government monitoring.

The change in norms would also help kilns get various incentives from the state as they employed thousands of people. Earlier the state

government had decided to allow brick kilns to operate as non-mining entities if they were involved in excavation up to a depth of 1.5m.