Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s characterization of Dhaka’s persistent toxic air as a “matter of national shame” is the sort of candid admission we would like to see more of.
Acknowledging that poisoning the air our children breathe is a deep institutional and civic failure is the vital first step toward addressing the challenge.
For years, our capital’s routine ranking at the very top of global hazardous air quality indexes was met by successive administrations with bureaucratic shrugs, passing the blame to seasonal weather pattern changes, or issuing advisory notices which had little to no substance. This has only exacerbated the air pollution crisis we find ourselves in today.
However, recognizing national embarrassment must immediately be followed by aggressive, uncompromising state action.
While we cannot control every factor that contributes to our toxic air quality, the primary culprits behind Dhaka’s suffocating smog are well-documented: Uncoordinated and unmonitored construction projects kicking up dust, thousands of unfit, smoke-belching vehicles plying the roads and highways, and brick kilns operating around the capital’s periphery in complete defiance of laws and environmental regulations.
The result has been a public health disaster costing thousands of lives annually and draining billions from our healthcare economy.
The PM’s call for public officials to go beyond routine "nine-to-five" duties and take ownership of environmental protection must be heeded. The Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, alongside other relevant authority bodies, can no longer treat pollution control as an afterthought.
Addressing Dhaka's air quality requires a zero tolerance approach, which begins with those in power actually caring enough to work on it seriously. Words of acknowledgment are a welcome departure from past denial but will prove to be meaningless if the state does not back those words to reclaim our right to breathe.
