This paper has carried several news stories on the filthy and unhealthy air of capital city Dhaka. The Air Quality Index, briefly AQI, has been too dirty and extremely harmful for health since the last couple of years but what’s a matter of great regret is that we’ve seen no pragmatic initiatives by the two city corporations and other relevant government departments to protect the people from obvious dangers. So, in AQI ranking Dhaka sometimes stands first, sometimes second or third and often it gets placed within the first five in the world. In the winter season the air quality is the worst, it is comparatively better in the rainy season. On Thursday, the AQI recorded 186 at 9:01am, which is considered ‘unhealthy’. Poland’s Krakow, Pakistan’s Lahore, India’s Delhi and Mongolia’s Ulaanbaatar occupied the top four spots with AQI scores of 292, 280, 208 and 189, respectively.
Many of us know, the air around us is made up of many gases and fine particles. Those are so small that they’re invisible to the bare eye. These gases cause enormous health problems when they enter our lungs. Air pollution is solely responsible for the death of over 70 lakh people each year across the world. Though unbelievable, approximately 90 per cent of the world’s population is exposed to air pollution to some extent. In Bangladesh’s context, it is hard to know the exact figure of death. However, a global report said Bangladesh saw a total of 173,500 deaths in 2019 due to air pollution, the figure was 123,000 in 2017. In our country, one of the big reasons behind the air pollution is unscientific brick kilns situated in the outskirts of Dhaka.
The Department of Environment (DoE), the sole regulatory body to oversee the issues of pollution, has apparently failed to stop activities that are harmful to the environment. There are widespread allegations that a section of dishonest DoE officials unethically shelter polluting industries, unfit motor vehicles which emit harmful gases and smoke plus haphazard construction of roads and buildings that contribute dust into the air and owners of illegal brick kilns. Besides, dilapidated roads create dust and make the air of cities more polluted. In Covid lockdown time, the air quality was better. The people of developed countries are more concerned about the air quality which helps keep the air clean. In Bangladesh, the situation is totally different. Here, corruption forces DoE and officials of other relevant departments to compromise with pollution. They do not care though it ultimately costs their life too.
