AIR pollution has for some years been a serious cause for concern. It appears that the failure to take effective air quality enhancement programmes has led air pollution to deteriorate. While air pollution usually worsens in the winter, the situation has become threatening this winter. Since the onset of the winter, hospitals have reported a surge in patients with diseases that are either attributable to or complicated by air pollution. The situation has forced the government to urge people not to go outside without masks. The environment, forest and climate change ministry also advised individuals with sensitive health conditions and the elderly and children to stay indoors unless absolutely necessary. Air pollution has taken a severe turn in most cities, especially Dhaka and adjacent areas, with air quality scores hovering around 200, which is regarded as very unhealthy and hazardous. The Air Quality Index has, in fact, placed Dhaka as one of the most polluted cities of the world for a long time. Reports by the Centre for Atmospheric Pollution Studies show that Dhaka鈥檚 air quality continues to worsen every year. The average air pollution jumped to AQI 171 in 2023 from 146 in 2017. Dhaka鈥檚 air now scores around 200 in the index during most of the year.
Studies have also painted a grim picture of air pollution and its impact on public health. About 200,000 premature deaths are attributed to air pollution every year while air pollution shortens the life expectancy of an average Bangladeshi by 4.8 years. Several research studies have also identified the major sources of air pollution that include construction sites, brick kilns, traffic, burning of solid waste, transboundary pollution and industrial pollution. The authorities have, however, largely failed to contain air pollution and comply with the High Court orders issued to control air pollution. The court directed the government to shut down brick kilns in and around the capital, ban black smoke-emitting and unfit vehicles, sprinkle water on roads, destroy vehicles that have served their shelf life and define their valid life spans, among other things. While an estimated 30 per cent of pollution in Bangladesh鈥檚 large cities originated, according to a World Bank report, in India, there has been little progress in addressing the issue. Four South Asian countries 鈥� Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan 鈥� agreed on the need to reduce national annual average PM2.5 levels to 35 micrograms per cubic metre by 2030, but none has so far taken any pragmatic measures.
The government should, therefore, own up to its failure, take up programmes that can yield results and comply with the court directives to lessen the burden of air pollution. The government should also collaborate with neighbouring countries to fight air pollution. The authorities should realise that air pollution is a threat to not only public health but also productivity and the economy and there is no scope for compromise with an issue that so adversely affects all.
