Paribesh Bachao Andalon (POBA), an environment protection organisation, has asked for the strict enforcement of the laws to save the Dhaka City from polluting air, reports UNB. They made the remarks in a roundtable on 'Emergency and Implementable responsibilities for controlling the air pollution of the Dhaka city' on Saturday in its auditorium. Speakers said that according to the Department of Environment (DoE), the air quality of Dhaka is now in the red category, meaning dangerous for health. It is possible to control the air pollution and especially unusual growth of dust if authorities including City Corporation, BRTA, Wasa take appropriate steps to implement their responsibilities properly, they asserted.

They were critical of a growing tendency of taking up costly projects without being mindful to arrest the deteriorating air condition in the city. The DoE has to strictly enforce laws to prevent the Dhaka City's air pollution considering the environment and the people, they empacised.

POBA Chairman Abu Naser Khan chaired the meeting while general secretary Abdus Sobhan presented the keynote paper in the meeting.

Engineer Md. Abdus Sobhan said that the imported coal in Bangladesh is very low quality (the amount of sulfur is more than 5 times the fixed level) and the coal is used for burning bricks. Imported petrol and diesel are of very low quality too.

“Modern equipment is not used in development work. According to the data from the Environment Department on 22 November, the air quality index (AQI) of Dhaka was 269, a point that is considered very unhealthy and harmful for health. If current rate of air pollution continues, then Dhaka and Chittagong Metropolises, and Narayanganj and Gazipur, will have to face severe calamity in the smoke pollution like Delhi,” alerted Sobhan.