Brick factory at Dera Ismail Khan

The houses in cities of Pakistan including Dera Ismail Khan are built of bricks.
In Pakistan, bricks for roads and buildings are generally made from dirt and sand. This is because they are relatively reasonably priced and strong.

Bricks are made at factories called ‘Batai’ in Pashtun. There are about 80 Batais in Dera Ismail Kahn, and it is said that about 6000 people are working there.

Today, we would like to introduce a story from a man who is the manager of a Batai.

There are two kinds of Batai. One is run by the owner of the Batai who supervises the Battai workers directly. The other is run by has been run by a contractor who is under an annual contract with the owner.

Barth Muhammad living in Dera Ismail Kahn is a contractor who is under an annual contract with the owner.

The Batai managed by Mr. Muhammad has 80 workers.

In order to make strong bricks, it is important to use solid dirt.

First, at the Batai, the dirt is brought by a truck and then spaked,
　
mixed sand to prevent contracting and then fired in a special wood brick fire.

The bricks are then left to dry in the sun for seven days.

To increase the strength, after the bricks have dried, they are placed in a heating device for an additional 21 days.

About 350,000 bricks are made in each batch.

Finally, those bricks are loaded on truck and delivered to consumers.