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POST TIME: 10 February, 2019 00:00 00 AM
‘90pc Dhaka dwellers affected by air pollution’
Staff Reporter, Dhaka

‘90pc Dhaka dwellers affected by air pollution’

It is not misty; the area is shrouded in a haze of dust as construction work continues close by forcing people there to suffer. The photo was taken near the Jurain bridge in the capital recently. Photo: Nazmul Islam

Around 90 percent of Dhaka city residents are affected by severe air pollution, speakers at a human chain programme said yesterday. They said that dust pollution tended to increase alarmingly in the dry season. At this time of the year, brickfields run their operation in full swing and the civic bodies and the utility service providers are engaged in repair works.

Environmental organisation Paribesh Bachao Andolan (Paba) and citizens’ rights organisation Nagarik Odhikar Sangrakkhan Forum (Nasaf) jointly organised the event in front of the Department of Fine Arts of Dhaka University in the capital’s Shahbagh area yesterday. “Around 90 per cent city dwellers are being affected  by the dust pollution, while

around 40 per cent of patients admitted to different hospitals report respiratory diseases,” Paba said in a statement. They also expressed grave concern as air pollution in Dhaka was increasing significantly, and called upon the authorities to curb the pollution for the sake of people’s health.

The organization, in a statement, placed twelve recommendations. It said the government should take immediate steps to repair roads as soon as possible and remove equipments instead of keeping them by the thoroughfares. The authorities should also make people aware of the harmfulness of dust pollution. Non-government organizations as well as the media should come forward in aid of the government bodies, the statement said.

The civic bodies should take measures to clean the garbage instead of keeping them in the bins indefinitely.

It should ensure that garbage does not spill on the road while being carried in dump trucks.

The environment activists also underscored the need for effective and collective moves to stop air pollution in the city.

They said air pollution was causing huge environmental harm and economic losses.

Abu Naser Khan, chairman of Paba, led the human chain. General Secretary of Paba Ferdous Ahmed Ujjal, Tayyab Ali, General Secretary of the Citizens’ Rights Organisation Nagorik Odhikar Sangrakkhan Forum (Nasaf) spoke at the programme.