Urban Dreams: At What Cost?

Bangladesh, with its 170 million inhabitants, is a country in constant demand for bricks as the primary material for the construction of buildings in the era of urbanization. There are approximately 5,000 privately operated brick kilns within Bangladesh, including 1000 around the capital, Dhaka. Brick kilns, indirectly responsible for climate change, emit toxic fumes containing large amounts of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and oxides of sulfur, which are extremely harmful to the eyes, lungs, and throat and cause environmental degradation. Around 4,00,000 low-income migrants arrive in Dhaka from different parts of the country every year to work at brickfields. Long working hours under the scorching sun in the brick fields, massive accumulation of dust, the risk of falling from the trucks and piles of bricks, and carrying excessive loads pose serious health hazards for the workers. 

According to the ILO study, a significant number of child laborers are employed in this process. The laborers engage in preparing and molding the clay. Preparing the clay involves shoveling, weathering the clay, and mixing it with earth and dirt. Afterward, the prepared clay is molded in a wooden case to give it the standard shape of a brick. The raw, wet bricks are placed out in the open to dry. All this is done manually. All the laborers then carry the raw bricks to the kiln, where they are covered with dirt and earth and pushed into the furnace.  To complete these tasks, which require no special skill, kiln operators and their agents target poverty-stricken villages and urban slums to recruit unskilled laborers. Children and youth who can be hired at a nominal wage easily fall prey to these agents. Since this is a seasonal business, poor families in rural areas often send their children to the brick kilns to be used as cheap contractual labor. 

Brick laborers work for 12-14 hours a day, six days a week, lacking basic human rights and access to social security. They earn 100 BDT(1.16 Dollars) only after carrying 1,000 bricks. The brick field's environment can be considered a new form of modern slavery. Sometimes, a total family consisting of a husband, wife, and children comes to the brick fields to work. They have no appropriate housing and sanitation facilities. Mostly, they set up a small hut near the brickfields to live with their families during this seasonal business.