ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Photography/Pictures/Photos of workers and brick making industry at brick kilns in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Updated on December 18, 2012

I have been a keen aspiring photographer for quite a while now. However, due to time constraints caused by my full time job and also ensuring that I spend quality time with my family, it has been quite challenging to find sufficient time to pursue my photography passion to the fullest of extent. What it practically translated to, was that, it was very challenging to find the time to take trips out of Dhaka (where I live and work) for the purpose of pursuing photography. This has forced me to consider anything and everything photographable within a short range of Dhaka city. Very early in my role as an aspiring photographer, I was drawn to photography at brick kilns located in and around Dhaka city. Brick kilns provide great opportunity to photographers for taking great lifestyle and portrait photography. It is also possible to highlight the apparent paradox that they pose. On the one side, brick kilns produce the very bricks are needed to build the society, but on the other side, they are also contributing to the destruction of the very planet that we live in, by causing a very serious adverse impact on the environment.

Brick kilns are principally located at Ashulia and Mirpur beriband, which are only a stone’s throw away from where I live and I have visited brick kilns located at these areas over the last few years. I also took the time to do some in-depth research on brick kilns of Bangladesh and found out the shockingly severe impact they seem to be having on the environment of Bangladesh and also on the people in general. This hub is basically a compilation of my photography at brick kilns situated around Dhaka and also the overall environmental impact they are having in Bangladesh.


On an average, over 8.66 billion bricks are produced annually in Bangladesh which are valued at $450 million, and which makes up approximately one percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Furthermore, this is a high growth industry and it has a growth rate of over 5.3 percent over the last 10 years. As per records, there are now over eight thousand brick making factories within Bangladesh which produce different types and quality of bricks and also produce other construction materials such as brick chips, dust, soling and herringbone. One big positive side of this industry is that it is very labor intensive and employs a large number of workers (2,000,000 workers during peak-season and 800,000 workers during off-season).

Unfortunately, the brick making industry is one of the largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions and local pollution in the county. Recent studies have shown that the brick making industry emits over 6 million tons of Co2 every year, which is roughly the same amount of gas which would be emitted by 230,000 passenger vehicles! Without proper monitoring of construction and manufacture locations of brick kilns, hundreds of brick kilns have been set up near densely populated areas and without having the mandatory 120 foot chimneys, both of which are in violation of the Brick Burning (Control) Act, 1989, of the country. Furthermore, a large number of brick kilns are operating around the country without having the requisite license for carrying out such activity, which also directly contradicts the provisions of the Brick Burning (Control) Act, 1989.

Failure of the brick kiln owners to adhere to the construction guidelines of brick kilns set out in the Brick Burning (Control) Act, 1989 and furthermore, building of brick kilns near densely populated areas, are causing people of the country to suffer from severe levels of air pollution. The outskirts of the capital city, Dhaka, are dotted with hundreds of brick kilns, which is the number one cause for 'fine-particulate' air pollution in Dhaka.

Apart from the air pollution, two other grave areas of concern caused by brick kilns are the unchecked usage of firewood and unchecked usage of topsoil. Around 33 percent of the fuel used in brick kilns comes from wood fuel, which is creating a high demand for firewood, most of which comes from illegal felling of forest trees. Additionally, the industry is also engaged in extensive usage of topsoil, which are excavated without following any proper structured system and this in turn is having an impact on the ecology of the country.

The disadvantages of the current brick kilns are very clear. Unfortunately, this has not caused the stoppage of usage of such brick kilns. Such brick kilns are very popular in the industry due to their low capital requirements and high yield. Since Bangladesh is a developing country, there will always be a high demand for bricks for many decades to come, and keeping this in mind, it is high time for the concerned authorities to take notice of the existing scenario and introduce modern technology in the sector which will be both environmentally friendly and also efficient. All brick kiln owners have to be made accountable for their actions and it must be fully ensured that they are compliant with the provisions of the relevant laws.

From the photographer perspective, brick kilns are a treasure trove for photography work. Powerful portraits of working men, women and their children (who stay in temporary shanties on-site) can be taken from brick making sites. Furthermore, the labors’ work lifestyle, how they live in the temporary shanties, their sanitary facilities, etc., are all great areas for photography. All the photographs accompanying this blog/hub were taken by me from the Ashulia and Mirpur beriband area of Dhaka.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)