Rautahat. The unseasonal rainfall on Friday and Saturday has damaged bricks worth hundreds of thousands of rupees at various brick factories operating in Rautahat. More than 50 brick factories here were prepared for baking.

President of Brick Industries Entrepreneurs’ Association, Ram Binod Sah, said that 50 brick factories operating in the district have suffered damages due to incessant rain. More than 15 million raw bricks have been destroyed in these industries. The total loss is estimated to be around Rs four and a half crore as the average cost of each brick is more than three rupees.

As many as 50 industries including BK Brick Factory, Bir Brick Factory, Puja Brick Factory, MBI Brick Factory, Sona Brick Factory and Ram Janaki Brick Industry have suffered losses due to unseasonal rains. Sah, who is also the proprietor of SPL Brick Factory at Garuda-5, Mohammadpur, complained that the raw bricks manufactured by the industry were destroyed by unseasonal rain while drying in the open.

Mohan Sah, central member of the Federation of Brick Entrepreneurs, demanded the government to provide insurance for raw bricks. Proprietor of Ram Janaki Brick Industry at Gujra-7 said brick entrepreneurs are forced to migrate due to unseasonal rainfall. He said that brick entrepreneurs would get relief from such natural disasters if the government or the concerned body adopted the insurance system for raw bricks.

Prem Shankar Yadav, proprietor of Radhakrishna Brick Factory, complained that raw bricks worth hundreds of thousands of rupees were destroyed. He said that the average cost of producing a raw brick is more than three rupees after adding the cost of soil, water and labor.

Though 160 brick factories are registered in the district, only 57 are in operation. The number of brick factories shutting down has increased in recent years. Last year too, unseasonal rain had damaged the brick factories due to lack of raw brick insurance.