It is frankly ridiculous that the citizens of Dhaka must wait for the very weather to intervene in order to combat our ever-present air pollution as this past Saturday saw the capital’s air quality rise to “moderate” quality, which is incredibly rare to see.
For context, an Air Quality Index score between 150 and 200 is considered “unhealthy,” a score between 201 and 300 is said to be "very unhealthy,” while a reading of 301+ is considered “hazardous" -- Dhaka almost always sits in between 200 and 300 with the winter season seeing the score far beyond 300.
As things stand, the PM2.5 -- small particulate pollutants that are 2.5 microns or smaller in size and can as a result bypass many of the body's defenses -- concentration of Dhaka’s air is close to 30 times above the standards set by the World Health Organization. Dhaka citizens are used to breathing in toxic air that can lead to a host of health issues in the long run, which, according to experts, hold the potential to cut the average lifespan of a Dhaka citizen by as many as nine years.
Needless to say, this should be ringing alarm bells across our entire public health infrastructure.
There are several measures that the government can take in the here and now to drastically improve the quality of our air, ranging from reining in outdated, outmoded public transport vehicles with inordinate amounts of emissions to the shuttering of the innumerable brickfields dotting the city which bellow poison into the air through kilns. Simply dealing with these two issues is bound to make a drastic difference to the quality of our air.
But the bigger problem that the administration will have to contend with is slowing down the rate at which our capital has been losing greenery and indeed making it a priority to ensure that the city is home to more trees instead.
It’s high time that the government cleared up the air regarding its air pollution measures.