Severe air pollution in 7 big cities

The serious air pollution is not limited only to Dhaka, but spread all other big cities in the country. Already, seven other cities are competing with Dhaka in terms of pollution. Even, this seven cities— Chattogram, gazipur, Narayanganj, Rajshahi, Mymenshingh, Rangpur and Sylhet— sometimes surpasses the level of pollution of Dhaka. The level of pollution in divisional cities like Khulna and Barisal is little less than that of others, but its air is not healthy according to the standard of World Health Organization (WHO). It’s also reflected in the report of air quality observation report of environment division.

According to the environment experts, extensive construction works are going in all the big cities of the country, along with uncontrolled spread of vehicles and factories. Due to polluted chemicals and gas emitted from them, the air of the cities is becoming poisonous. Furthermore, because of the trans-boundary pollution or polluted air coming from other side of the border, the air of the country is getting more and more polluted.

According to the report of directorate of environment, on February in air quality index (AQI) Dhaka’s score was 277, which was really unhealthy. On that day, the score of Gazipur and Rajshahi were 308 and 353 respectively, which was serious unhealthy. On February 20, the score of Dhaka was 246, while the scores of Narayanganj, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Gazipur, Chattogram, Khulna and Barishal were 361, 344, 284, 280, 246, 166 and 159 respectively. On February, Dhaka’s score was 175, while for Chattogram, Gazipur, Narayanganj, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Savar and Rangpur it were 210, 220, 177, 296, 316, 196 and 252 respectively, which was greater than Dhaka.

If the AQI score is between 0 to 50, then it’s called good air, while from 51 to 100 its tolerable, 101 to 150 more or less unhealthy, 151 to 200 unhealthy, 201 to 300 very unhealthy and more than 300 its serious unhealthy of disastrous.

Meanwhile, according to the report of Air Visual, international air quality observing organization, Dhaka is in top 3 places among top 100 cities with serious air pollution. The level of pollution is decreased in rainy season, but from October to February the name of top polluted city is being attached to Dhaka every now and then.

In the report of World Bank titled ‘Breathing Heavy: New Evidence on Air Pollution and Health in Bangladesh,’ it has been stated that because of the high level of air pollution, from 78,000 to 88,000 people die each year in Bangladesh. Due to the contact with polluted air, the risk of serious illnesses like heavy breathing, infection in trachea and depression is increasing.

According to the report, from 2018 to 2021, Bangladesh was marked as the most polluted country and Dhaka was marked as the second polluted city in the world.

Regarding this matter, professor of department of chemistry of University of Dhaka and air pollution expert, Abdus Salam said, “The level of pollution is being increased in all the countries of South-East Asia. In the evening, the level of pollution in Dhaka’s air is sometimes increased 36 times than the limit set by WHO. Even, the coastal districts like Bhola are having serious air pollution. The land-bound city like Rajshahi is also suffering from disastrous level of pollution. The presence of more coal-based power plant, hastily construction of infrastructure and unplanned urbanization are the main causes behind it, while some polluted air are also coming from other side of the border. Moreover, the number of excessive vehicle, along with fitness-less ones is another big reason behind it. There’re laws regarding stopping pollution; however, its proper implementation is absent here. If laws are strictly implemented, only then the pollution would be minimized.”

@The report was published in Bengali on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on February 26 and rewritten in English by Lutful Hoque