The right to breathe clean air is a constitutional right and a human right of the people of the country. However, the people, particularly the dwellers of Dhaka city; are being deprived of the right to breathe clean air, said public health experts and rights activists. They said these at a discussion held in the meeting room of Dhaka International University (DIU) on Sunday (July 30, 2023) Center for Law and Policy Affairs (CLPA), Open Sesame and Japan Fund for Global Environment (JFGE) jointly arranged the discussion on improving the air quality of Dhaka city.
The meeting was attended by Prof Dr. Ahmad Kamruzzaman Majumde. chairman at Department of Environmental Science of Stamford University Bangladesh and founding chairman of Center for Atmospheric Pollution Studies (CAPS); Advocate Syed Mahbubul Alam Tahin, secretary of CLPA; Prof Dr AFM Sarwar, research consultant at CLPA; Md Bazlur Rahman, an associate professor at Department of Business Administration, of Dhaka International University (DIU); Sushanta Sinha, executive director of IPHRC; Advocate Shahnewaz Bangladesh, a lawyer of Bangladesh Supreme Court; Barrister Nishat Mahmud; a lawyer of the Supreme Court; Hamidul Islam Hillol of Bureau of Economic Research at Dhaka University, Kamrunnisa Munna, policy analyst at CLPA; Ehsanul Haque Jasim, executive director of Inter Press Network-IPN; Md Asrar Habib Nipu of DAS; and Farhana Zaman Liza, project manager of Tobacco Control and Research Cell (TCRC) of Dhaka International University.
The speakers said that air pollution is currently a cause of concern for Dhaka city. According to Air Quality Index (AQI) data, Bangladesh is a most air polluted country in the world. They also said that air pollution is one of the environmental health risks at present. About seven million people die every year due to air pollution in the world and about 2.40 lakh people die every year in Bangladesh. If efforts are not taken to prevent air pollution now, it will have adverse effects on public health and economy in the near future, they added. Source: https://bangladeshpost.net/