Fahrenheit 800

India’s brick kiln workers are paying for the country’s construction boom

- Zaina Azhar Sayeda

UTTAR Pradesh: Darkness falls on Rajauli village, but for Raju Kushwaha there is no difference between the scorching sun and a blazing brick kiln. While the village’s residents enjoy the cool air, the 45-year-old’s sweat-drenched body is hard at work at the local Bhatta.

As temperatures of 50 degrees and heatwave alerts rang through northern India, the country’s brick kilns stayed open. “The surface was so hot that workers could cook their chapatis just by placing their utensils on top of it,” Khushwaha said.

Originally from Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, Khushwaha is the sole earner for his wife and 11-year-old daughter. He works in one of UP’s 19,718 brick kilns.

The factory is divided by function and temperature. By the entrance, where bricks are stacked for pick-up, the heat is bearable. Next to the bhatta, where workers pull out freshly baked bricks, it’s 70°C. In the furnace, the temperatures soar to between 800 to 1200°C.