‘The Air We Breathe is World-Class Dirty’
 
By Alamgir Mohiuddin
 
 

DHAKA -- World Bank Country Director in Bangladesh, Mr. Frederick Temple's two- sentence description of air pollution in the capital city of Dhaka precisely describes the magnitude of the situation: "Dhaka's air pollution problem is very serious. The air we breathe is world-class dirty."

"The measured range for ambient particulate matter in Dhaka is from a low of 300 to an extreme high of 2400 micro grams per cubic meter, which on an average is more than three times higher than the 1998 World Health Organization guidelines and the Bangladesh limit. The economic value of the health costs for urban air pollution in Bangladesh is estimated to be between 60 and 240 million dollars per year," Temple told an international conference on air pollution in Dhaka recently.

He suggested that improving air quality requires good economics and good governance. Economics related to closing the gap in prices of petrol and kerosene and governance was linked to implementation of the decisions. Without saying it in many words, he simply said it does not exist, and emphasized the need for collaboration among policymakers and stakeholders from the environment, transport and energy sectors and dynamic partnership among the government, the private sector and general public.

Mr. Cameroon Kennedy, a visiting journalist and instructor is critical of the Bangladesh press for its failure in creating an awareness about air pollution among the public and forcing the government to act effectively in this regard. One of the problems is polarization of the journalist community along political lines. "Needless to say, this country's polarized political environment imposes serious limitations on reporting about natural environment," noted Kennedy with a suggestion: "Reporters must place their integrity as journalists ahead of their political allegiance. Otherwise, they are nothing more than propagandists."  "Another disturbing facet of journalism in Bangladesh is a tendency among the reporters to resort to unnecessary self-censorship. Anonymous sources are a fact of life in this country due to official and unofficial gags placed on bureaucrats by this government or party faithfuls who don't take criticism kindly," Kennedy observed.

Mr. Qamrul Islam Chwodhury, chairman of the Forum of Environmental Journalists of Bangladesh (FEJB) and the Commonwealth Environmental Journalists Association (CEJA) and secretary general of Asian Federation of Environmental Journalist (AFEJ) said there should be an effective cooperation between the public in general and the concerned agencies in particular for implementing all laws and regulations passed to

reduce air pollution.

Bangladesh has National Environment Policy 1992 and Environmental Conservation Act 1995 to identify sources of pollution and control it.  There are also provisions for daily monitoring of pollution by automobiles. The Supreme Court in a recent judgment ruled that Articles 31 and 32 of Bangladesh Constitution, which provides for "right to life" also included "right to a healthy environment." The Department of Environment (DOE) tried to implement these decisions by holding mobile courts but failed for lack of cooperation from the police, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistracy and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA). Even the drivers of autorickshaws, a three-wheeler attacked the court. So, the program had to be abandoned. About 35,000 autorickshaws imported from India and 500 locally manufactured Mishuk-- an engine-run autorickshaw – are faulty. There are some 55,000 such rickshaws in Dhaka city seriously contributing to air pollution. The government cannot implement these decisions because the owners of these transports, drivers and others involved in it are a formidable political force in Bangladesh. Even the members of the law enforcement agencies are owners of many air-polluting faulty vehicles. Instead of phasing out these vehicles quickly for getting clean air in the city, the government rather has chosen to allow them for 12 more years.

The government was only able to implement its decision to use unleaded petrol but with backing from the World Bank. However, its program to convert all automobiles enabling them to use compressed natural gas is still toddling. Incentives to users of compressed natural gas in the form of lower registration fees have not yet been implemented.

"These are decisions taken in light of the long debate among the environmental journalists and their environmental campaign over the years," Chowdhury said, regretting that "in our government's case, most often, decisions are taken only to flout them subsequently." He cautioned: “What today is soluble problem may become insoluble tomorrow. We cannot afford to waste any time at all in protecting our environment."

Director General of DOE Rashidul Huq agreed that the level of awareness among the public was inadequate He said that the support from concerned agencies like the police, BRTA and the magistracy in implementing various provisions of relevant laws and regulations was not adequate. Besides, he said, the department does not have enough funds to undertake various programs. He said the media had been quite expressive these days raising consciousness among the people.

A recent seminar on environmental pollution in Dhaka blamed the politicians for their indifferent attitude toward the situation, and warned about the possible dire consequences. When the country awakes to the grave situation arising out of uncontrolled pollution some day, it could then be too late to do anything about it, one speaker reminded the audience at the seminar.