Green activists have asked the authorities concerned to take monitoring initiatives to check dust pollution in the city as its air quality is set to fall with the onset of dry season, reports UNB.
"It's time for the Department of Environment (DoE) to take a proper plan and strengthen its monitoring system to check dust pollution in the city. Otherwise, the city dwellers would have to suffer a lot due to the uncontrolled dust pollution," general secretary of Paribesh Bachao Andolan (POBA) Engr Abdus Sobhan told the news agency.
Road dust has become the biggest source of pollution in the capital, especially during the dry season for various reasons, including unplanned construction work, posing a severe health threat to the city dwellers.
Citing his independent assessment on the city's dust pollution, Sobhan said the air pollution, caused by construction work-related processes like concrete crushing, cement batching and road stone plants, is destroying the environment and clean air, depriving the city dwellers of breathing in fresh air.
He said a household in the city, on average, has to incur a loss of additional Tk 4,000-Tk 5,000 per month due to dust pollution as the city households have to spend money on cleaning up their cloths, utensils, furniture and other materials.
A DoE study shows the dust pollution in the city turns acute during the dry season, which is over three times higher than the permissible level.
According to the study report, the level of particulate matter (PM-10) commonly known as dust was the highest 499 ugm/m3 in the last dry season in the city while the permissible level is 150 ugm/m3 as set in the Environment Conservation Rules 1997.
The DoE with support from the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NIAR) conducted a study in the Dhaka city last year to assess the level of air pollution and define the sources of the pollution to take effective measures to check it.
The study findings reveal that the major sources of dust pollution are brick kilns (58 per cent) located in surrounding areas of the city, construction materials (18 per cent) and vehicles (10 per cent).
