WE are at the onset of winter. The government should take monitoring initiatives to check dust pollution in Dhaka city as the quality of air falls drastically in winter and people suffer lung infections. Quoting green activists, The New Nation reported that due to unplanned construction work-related processes like concrete crushing, cement batching and road stone plants, city dwellers are deprived of breathing in fresh air in winter. Presence of particles in the air becomes several times more in Dhaka than the acceptable level. The government or the city corporations can’t control the dust; individuals and private firms should come up with ideas to curb the menace.
Dust particles small enough to be inhaled not only cause irritation of the eyes, coughing and sneezing, but also asthma and bronchitis. Every 10 out of 100 children exposed to dust develop asthma while seven to eight percent of adults suffer from chronic bronchitis. According to the World Health Organisation, over 37,000 Bangladeshis die annually from diseases related to air pollution. That the number of people who suffer from various forms of diseases caused by dust and air pollution is much higher can easily be estimated.
Dhaka, of course, being an underdeveloped city, requires rapid development in its infrastructure. There is no way of logically arguing against that. But what one can easily argue is the lack of effort on part of the authorities to mitigate and, in fact, even reduce in any way the fallout effects of such development and construction works. A household in the city, on average, has to incur a loss of additional Tk 4,000-Tk 5,000 per month due to dust pollution as the city households have to spend money on cleaning their clothes, utensils, furniture and other materials. The major sources of dust pollution are brick kilns (58 percent) located in surrounding areas of the city, construction materials (18 percent) and vehicles (10 percent). As quality is not ensured in road repairs, city roads get damaged fast and generate unusual dust making the lives of city dwellers miserable.
The government must come up with a detailed plan on how to check dust pollution in Dhaka and other cities. The City Corporations must water their construction sites while realtors and developers should take steps to stop dust spreading. The brick kilns on the outskirts of Dhaka city are also responsible for air pollution, so the government should ask the kiln owners to use environment-friendly technology. The city fathers must not play with the public health. It is their core duty to let the city dwellers a healthy life.
