Air pollution worst in Shahbagh, better near Sangsad Bhaban

The air pollution in Dhaka city is the worst in Shahbagh, but better near Sangsad Bhaban. This was revealed in a recent study on air and sound pollution. The results of the study were released on Saturday afternoon at a workshop in the Stamford University auditorium of the capital.

This research was carried out by the university's Centre for Atmospheric Pollution Studies (CAPS). It was headed by chairman of the university's environmental science department and dean of the science faculty Ahmad Kamruzzaman Majumder. The study was funded by USAID and UKAid.

Presenting the research findings, Ahmad Kamruzzaman said that according to the Department of Environment (DoE), up to 15 micrograms of dust particles in the air constituted healthy air quality. However, they carried out their research in 10 areas of the capital city and found dust particles in the air exceeding the DoE limit by five times (74.81), which is extremely unhealthy.

The study revealed that before the rains, air pollution is the highest in Shahbagh. And during the monsoon, the air pollution is the worst in Mirpur Section 10. And after the rains it is the worst in Tejgaon. During the winter air pollution is the worst in Shahbagh. Dhanmondi road 32 is the second worst.

Ahmad Kamruzzaman Majumder said relatively bad and relatively good air quality is not restricted to any specific areas. In Dhaka, air pollution is the highest where construction work is underway.

The Waterkeepers Bangladesh Consortium organised this 'Second Data Validation' workshop. At the workshop, professor of geography and environment at Jahangirnagar University, Nurul Islam highlighted another study on river water.

He said that an analysis of the results revealed that the water quality of the rivers near Hemayetpur and Shyampur during the dry season deteriorated considerably during the dry season.

Assistant professor of law at Dhaka University, Mohammad Golam Sarwar, speaking at the workshop, said while 6 million people died of Covid-19, every year 9 million died of environmental pollution. He said that river pollution should be declared an epidemic.

Moderator of the workshop and convener of Waterkeepers Bangladesh, Sharif Jamil, said the law is an important factor in formulating any policy. There needs to be changes in the areas of policy making and implementation.

Commenting on the report presented at the workshop, were Stamford University vice chancellor (VC) Mohammad Ali Naqi, pro-VC Mohammad Yunus Miah, professor of Jahangirnagar University's department of geography and environment, KM Shariful Huda, National River Protection Commission's environment and climate change expert, Munir Hossain Chowdhury, director of Dhaka WASA's Dhaka lab Alamgir Hossain, BRAC University's microbiology professor Mahbub Hossain and others.