Asansol, West Bengal: A 45-year-old brick kiln owner in West Bengal's Asansol allegedly committed suicide this morning. Jugal Ghosh's body was found hanging from a high tension electric pole near his house in Raniganj.
Hours after the death, other brick kiln owners in the area blocked National Highway 2 for almost an hour claiming that Mr Ghosh had committed suicide because of the National Green Tribunal's Eastern Bench notice to shut down all brick kiln in the area.
The order was served on brick kiln owners by the state administration on March 30, saying their operations were to shut down with immediate effect allegedly because they were causing pollution.
There are about 400 brick kilns in the Asansol subdivision.
The Asansol Subdivisional Brickfield Owners Association claims 45,000 people depend on the kilns for a livelihood and the sudden closure is threatening their livelihoods.
Jugal Ghosh owned Rupa Brick Field and the Association secretary says the closure notice forced him to commit suicide.
"The cause of death is this only - the notice of March 30 to brick kilns to shut down. The cost of running the brick kilns comes from loans which everyone takes. Suddenly they give this notice to shut down. How will we repay our loans? If they had given us two months' time to shut down, we would have agreed. 45,000 people are involved in brick kilns in Asansol. Government gets Rs 4 crore as taxes. Everything will stop because of the whim of the National Green Tribunal," said Manas Tapadar, secretary of Brickfield Owners Association.