Brick industry waiting for Indian workers

Kanchanpur: At that time, raw bricks were used in brick factories to prepare fires in kilns. Those who could quickly order labor from India were in the final stages of preparing to burn raw bricks. But this time the work could not start as the Indian workers could not come due to the corona infection.

Indian workers working in brick factories in Kanchanpur have returned home before the hailstorm. They have not been able to return home yet. "Workers have not come from India. Nepali workers are not able to make raw bricks as they are not capable," said Naresh Mali, an employee of Bhubaneswari Brick Industry in Bhimdatta Municipality-2. His industry now has nine workers from Hasulia in Kailali. The gardener said that they have made only one and a half thousand raw bricks so far.

"We can't produce bricks without workers from India," said Valdev Budal, president of the Mahakali Brick and Tile Dealers' Association. According to him, the work of production in all types of kilns from straw kilns to chimneys and zigzags is done by Indian workers. For the last time, the government has allowed workers in productive industries to be brought in by adopting health safety standards. But so far the workers of the brick industry have not come.

"Until now, we had planned to light a fire to burn raw bricks, but it was delayed due to lack of workers," Budal said. "Now, if the weather allows, we can only produce in January." According to him, even though a small number of Indian workers have come to some industries, most of them have stopped working. There are more than 80 registered brick factories in Kailali and Kanchanpur. About 75 of them are in operation. According to Budal, an industry needs one and a half hundred workers. Workers have been coming from Kailali, Kanchanpur, Lakhimpur, Bareilly, and Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh, India.