Authorities must step up efforts to protect hills from being ravaged

Defying laws, some unscrupulous traders are cutting down trees to fuel a brick kiln in Manpura Island of Bhola, locals alleged.

The country must immediately start using environment-friendly alternative hollow blocks instead of conventional bricks to save its fertile topsoil and conserve environment, experts and top officials said at a discussion yesterday.

To protect topsoil and the environment, the government must immediately spearhead a campaign for using alternatives of conventional bricks, said experts at a seminar in the capital yesterday.

Every day many children make their way to schools in Kamalganj upazila of Moulvibazar, Sylhet, under thick, black clouds of smoke

With the start of the brick-making season, dozens of illegal brick kilns have started operation inside the forests and near many schools in Bandarban, polluting environment in the hills.