That Dhaka yesterday once again ranked joint top in global air pollution is not simply infuriating but unacceptable.
At this point, the question is no longer why this keeps happening but why we still continue to tolerate it.
Year after year, our capital’s residents inhale toxic air, suffering respiratory illnesses, reduced productivity, and shortened lives. Air pollution continues to be among the biggest killers for our nation, and that we still fail to comprehend just how damaging it is is shocking.
To say that our response remains piecemeal would be an understatement. It remains reactive and woefully inadequate.
By now, the causes are well known: Unregulated brick kilns, unchecked construction dust, vehicular emissions especially from old, unfit vehicles, and weak enforcement of environmental laws.
None of these are mysteries.
What has long been missing is political will and institutional accountability. Instead of decisive action, we see cosmetic measures with the occasional drive and vague promises.
Meanwhile, citizens continue to breathe poison.
Air pollution has long been a public health crisis. Chronic respiratory illness from polluted air continues to exacerbate yearly, with children, the elderly, and the poor suffering most.
Yet, this suffering rarely translates into urgency at the policy level.
We speak of sustainable development but that is simply impossible while our capital city’s air remains unbreathable.
We have the means to fix this; cleaner technologies for brick kilns exist as do better and modernized public transport. Construction too can be regulated.
These are not and have never been impossible tasks. Rather, it is a choice -- to act or to ignore. For too long, we have ignored, and we must act.
