Serious health effects in Dhaka's air
Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka ranked the sixth among cities with the worst air quality on Tuesday morning for the second consecutive day.
It had a score of 197 at 08:09am within the Air Quality Index (AQI). The air was classified as ‘unhealthy’.
When the AQI score is between 151 and 200, everyone may experience health effects while members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects.
Mongolia’s Ulaanbaatar, India’s Delhi and Pakistan’s Lahore occupied the highest three positions within the list of cities with the worst air with AQI many 263, 261, and 236 respectively.
The AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, informs people how clean or polluted the air of a particular city is, and what associated health effects could be a priority for them.
In Bangladesh, the AQI is predicated on five criteria pollutants - particulate (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and Ozone (O3).
The Department of Environment has also set national ambient air quality standards for these pollutants. These standards aim to guard against adverse human health impacts.
Dhaka has long been grappling with pollution . The air quality usually improves during monsoon.
Last month, the supreme court issued a nine-point directive to bring down pollution level in Dhaka and ordered the Department of Environment (DoE) to conduct mobile court drives twice every week to require action against those liable for pollution within the capital.
The court also directed the general public Administration Ministry to appoint five executive magistrates for DoE within one month for conducting mobile courts.
