in may 1998, the ministry of environment and forests had issued a notification for conservation of the top soil of agricultural land. The draft Gazette notification (No.DL33004/98), dated May 22, 1998, read that no person shall excavate the top soil of agricultural land within 50 km radius of a coal or lignite-based thermal power plant, and these power plants shall utilise the entire fly ash generated by them in a specified manner.

Thermal power plants generate fly ash, and the notification had directed them to utilise the fly ash to increase the fertility of the soil. Quality bricks can also be produced by the fly ash, thus making areas around the thermal power plants an ideal location for brick kilns. The farmers owning the land in the vicinity of the power plants are lured into leasing out their land to brick manufacturers. Hectares of agricultural land in Faridabad, Haryana, are dotted by brick kilns. "We lease out our land to brick manufacturers because they are willing to pay hefty prices,' said Ravinder Singh, who owns land near a thermal power plant.