Causes and Consequences of Land Degradation in and around the Brick Kilns of Khejuri CD Blocks over Coastal Medinipur in West Bengal

Brick is one of the most important building materials or Unit of construction in India. Fired clay bricks are produced in India and about 42,000 small or cottage scale brick kilns and clamps operate seasonally (CPCB, 1996). As per the latest estimate annual production of bricks in India is 51,000 million from 45,000 small/cottage scale units distributed throughout the country and there are 2.5 million workers employed in the sector. Most of the units are located manually (Aslam, 1993). In Khejuri there was only 1 bric