JUDGMENT :

Kuldip Singh, J.

1. The brick kilns operating in the Taj Trapezium are one of the major sources of air pollution. This Court by the order dated 4-4-1996 directed National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur to send an inspection team to visit the brick kilns in Taj Trapezium to find out the extent of pollution generated by the brick kilns and to report whether — to safeguard Taj Mahal and other significant monuments from pollution — it would be environmentally viable to permit the brick kilns to operate in the Taj Trapezium. NEERI has placed on record its inspection report dated 24-4-1996. The report has primarily dealt with the present status of brick kilns, emission characterisation and ambient air monitoring in and around representative brick kilns, brick-making process, metrology and prediction of ground-level concentrations of air pollutants, impact on Taj Mahal and other monuments, human health and vegetation and various other aspects relating to environmental preservation. NEERI has given distribution of brick kilns at various distances from Taj Mahal. According to the report there is no brick kiln up to 5 km from the Taj Mahal. There are 12 brick kilns within the distance of 5-10 km, 31 between 10-15 km and 22 between 15-20 km. All other brick kilns are beyond the distance of 20 km from Taj Mahal. The report also indicates that there are many brick kilns operating without renewal permission. The recommendations of NEERI as contained in para 5 of the report are as under :

"5.0 Recommendations

The locations of brick kilns need to be decided on the basis of incremental rise in the air pollutants due to brick kilns vis-a-vis Taj Mahal. The distance of brick kilns from existing habitations should also be considered in the perspective of health effects on general population, and effects on vegetation. The following recommendations are accordingly made by the inspection team :

5.1 Improvement in brick kilns design

The brick kilns being operated in TTA are of primitive designs, operated manually using obsolete methods, and highly energy inefficient. Thus, improvement in their designs is urgently needed.

The brick kilns have two types of chimneys, viz., moving and stationary. The moving chimneys are two in number, with 32 and 34 feet stack heights respectively and made of mild steel (MS) sheet with one season life. It is recommended that air pollution control equipment consisting of baffle arrangement inside the chimney with a gas bypass system should be installed in the chimneys to arrest pollution.

In stationary chimney type brick kilns, the stack is made of bricks. It is recommended that a covered baffled settling cell at the bottom of the stack with provision of stack bypass system and water cap be installed. This would result in higher efficiency in trapping the pollutants.

A few brick kilns have installed stationary chimneys made of bricks of 90 to 100 feet height at the centre of the brick kilns. The cost of this chimney is around Rs. 1.2 lakhs and the life is around 20 years. This chimney provides better dispersion of pollutants and consequently lesser effect on ambient air quality. The cost of moving chimney is about Rs. 0.30 lakh and it is economical to replace moving chimney with stationary chimney of 100 feet height in brick kilns operating for more than four years. It is, therefore, recommended that the stationary chimneys of 100 feet height in brick kilns, which will have a life of more than 30 years, be installed in all brick kilns operating in TTA.

5.2 Use of cleaner fuel

NBetter Quality Coal: The brick kilns should be provided with better quality coal to reduce particulate emissions. Currently the brick kilns are using slack coal with high ash content, and which produce large quantities of SPM.

Use of Pulverised Coal: The brick kilns are using coal of 30-40 mm size which results in sputtering and consequent formation of finer coal particles emanated as smoke from the chimneys.