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.

At least 500 bighas of prime farmland loses productivity in five upazilas of Lalmonirhat every year, as their topsoil is sold to feed around 40 local brick kilns.

Man-made intervention in the upstream turns Teesta a wild river in monsoon and a desert in winter.