Rain causes millions in losses to brick industries

By Our Correspondent,Kalyanpur, (Saptari), Mar. 22: Brick makers in various districts of Madhes Province, including Saptari, Mahottari and Sarlahi, have suffered heavy losses after unseasonal rain and storms damaged large quantities of raw bricks prepared for firing.

Due to the wind and rain that has been ongoing since Friday night, brick entrepreneurs in Saptari have faced severe difficulties.

Bricks kept out in the sun for drying were soaked in water and decomposed, causing significant financial losses.

Krishnadev Pandit, operator of New Kali Maa Pandit Brick Industry in Shambhunath Municipality-4, said that 1.2 million bricks kept for drying in the sun got soaked and were destroyed.

He added that a similar situation has occurred in the 45 brick industries currently operating in the district.

“Only in my factory, 1.2 million bricks waiting to be fired in the kiln were soaked and destroyed, while at least 500,000 bricks were lost in other brick industries as well,” he said.

Stating that it costs Rs. 4.38 to make a raw brick, Pandit expressed grief over the loss of millions of rupees across all brick industries in the district.

Expressing his frustration over long-standing government policies, he said that brick entrepreneurs will continue to suffer until a policy is introduced to close kilns from Mangsir 1 and allow firing to begin on Chaitra 1.

“Currently, kilns are allowed to be fired from Magh 1, but it rains as soon as Chaitra arrives, causing us severe difficulties,” he explained.

According to our Sarlahi correspondent, heavy rain on Friday evening, which continued until Saturday afternoon, destroyed raw bricks in Sarlahi.

Bhagwan Mainali, operator of Tulsi Brick Industry in Danubari, Hariwan Municipality-9, Sarlahi, said that this is the main season for preparing raw bricks.

He added that heavy rains ruined the raw bricks that were being dried in the open air at each brick industry.

Since this is the main season for preparing bricks, industrialists were busy, but the unseasonal rain ruined everyone.

Mainali said, "My 300,000 raw bricks have been destroyed, resulting in a loss of more than one million rupees."

According to Sarlahi Brick Industry Association, damage caused by the rain is being collected.

Due to the good business of bricks last year, brick industries that were closed for three to four years had also come into operation this year, but those industries have had to bear the losses due to the rain from the beginning.

Jaganath Ray, president of the Sarlahi Brick Industry Association and owner of Surya Brick Industry, Kabilasi, said that about 1.5 million raw bricks prepared for burning in his kiln were damaged by rain.

As there is no insurance for raw bricks, entrepreneurs are affected every year when they are damaged by unseasonal rains, Ray said, adding that they had been taking initiatives with every government for insurance, but so far there has been no hearing.

Ray complained that he has suffered a lot of damage as the raw bricks he is preparing cannot be stored elsewhere even though he received the information of rain a day in advance.

According to Association, the rain has damaged the raw bricks prepared by about 60 industries across the district.

Likewise, our Mahottari correspondent adds that raw bricks worth Rs. 30 million of 30 brick industries were damaged by the rain and storm of Friday.