To make Haryana pollution-free, all the brick kilns in the state would have to adopt Zig Zag technique by 30 September.

Minister of State for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Karan Dev Kamboj on Thursday said no brick kiln owner would be allowed to use old techniques in brick kilns after 1 October. An advanced ‘zig-zag’ technology that reduces emissions by a 50 per cent.

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Addressing a press conference, Kamboj said that the technique which is approved by Pollution Control Board is modern, and is a historic step taken by the government to make the state pollution free.

He said that at present there are 2741 brick kilns in the state, which adds to air and noise pollution. For the health of the people and to make the state pollution free, the present government has formulated a policy for brick kilns in 2017 and every brick would have to follow this policy, he added.

The minister said that 75 per cent of the brick kiln owners have adopted this technique. After adoption of this technique, the pollution would be reduced besides providing job opportunities to the unemployed.

He said due to various steps of the department, there is zero wastage of foodgrains from 2016 onwards and we will maintain this in future also.

Kamboj said that several effective steps have been taken by the state government to provide safe storage of foodgrains. For this, disciplinary action has been taken against employees or officials who were responsible for spoilage of foodgrains.

As a result, in the last three to four years, there has been a continuous decrease in the incidence of food spoilage in the state. Kamboj said that if any vendor is found weighing sweets along with the box, strict action would be initiated against him.

During festival season, some vendors sell sweets by weighing them along with the box. If any complaint in this regard is received, action would be initiated against the vendor, he said.

He said that the vendors can charge for boxes separately, but they cannot weight sweets or items along with box.

The minister said that under ‘Jago Grahak Jago’ scheme, some vendors were challaned during recent years and Rs 12 lakh was imposed as fine.

He said that any kind of cheating with consumer would not be tolerated and the guilty would not be spared. Apart from this, checking of petrol pumps are also checked and action is taken if found cheating the consumers.