The government facilitated the polluters by passing Air Pollution Control Rules, 2022, instead of passing the draft of the “Clean Air Act-2019,” green organisation Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA) said on Tuesday.
“Law amendments have been made to ensure capitalists’ interests and capitalism,” BAPA Vice-President Iqbal Habib said at a press conference held at the Dhaka Reporters Unity.
He said, “All development projects are dominated by capitalists, sacrificing the environment for commercial interests.
“The DAP (detailed area plan) has been changed only to meet eleven demands of Bangladesh Land Developers Association (BLDA) and real estate association. It is clear that the government is only accepting the demands of the capitalists to give them benefits,” Iqbal added.
BAPA President Prof Nur Mohd Talukder presided over the press conference and General Secretary Alamgir Kabir moderated it.
Head of the Department of Environmental Science at Stamford University Bangladesh Prof Ahmad Kamruzzaman Majumder presented the keynote at the event.
He said, “According to the Air Quality Life Index-2023 report, published by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, the average life expectancy of all people in the world is reduced by two years and four months due to air pollution.
“On the other hand, the average life expectancy of a citizen of Bangladesh decreases by six years and eight months.”
Addressing the health hazards of air pollution, Kamruzzaman said the pollution spread not only in Dhaka and other big cities but also in municipalities and villages.
According to the National Institute of Diseases of the Chest and Hospital, the number of patients who took treatment at the hospital’s outdoor and emergency departments was a little more than 12,000 in July last year. However, the number has crossed 14,000 so far this year, he added.
The green body observed that some key changes in rules caused environmental hazards, privileging the businesses.
To curb air pollution, the BAPA recommended several measures. These include maintaining the standard for PM2.5 at 15 micrograms per cubic metre, which has been increased to 35 micrograms in Air Pollution Control Rules, 2022.
The government must ensure the imports and use of low sulfur (50 ppm) contained diesel as mentioned in the air pollution guidelines issued by the Department of Environment earlier, the BAPA recommended.
All coal-, oil- and gas-based thermal power plants should be classified as “red category” instead of the existing “orange category,” it added.
BAPA Vice-President Prof M Shahidul Islam and Work for a Better Bangladesh Trust Director Gaus Piari, among others, spoke on the occasion.
