The Bandarban district administration and the Department of Environment have run a two-day drive against illegal brick kilns in Lama on the orders of the High Court, demolishing six kilns and planting saplings of various species on the sites.

Md Rezaul Karim, assistant director of the Department of Environment in Bandarban, confirmed the operation on the afternoon of Thursday, 14 August.

From morning to afternoon on Thursday, the illegal UBM, SBW, MBI and NRB brick kilns in the Faitong area of Lama upazila were flattened with excavators. On Wednesday morning, two more kilns in the same area, EBM and SevenBM, had been demolished, bringing the total to six. Saplings of different species were then planted on the kiln sites at the administration's initiative.

The joint drive was led by Abdullah Khairul Islam Chowdhury, senior assistant commissioner and executive magistrate of the Bandarban district administration, with the army, the fire service, the police and the Department of Environment taking part. Lama upazila nirbahi officer Md Moin Uddin and Md Rezaul Karim were also present.

"On the High Court's orders, six illegal brick kilns that were harming the environment and ecology have been demolished in a two-day drive against illegal kilns. Saplings were then planted there," Md Rezaul Karim said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.