Dust a huge health threat to Dhaka dwellers

Based Ahmed Khan, a resident of Uttara, took his nine-year-old daughter Upoma to hospital recently for a medical check-up, not because she suffers from asthma but her health condition deteriorated. He has observed that the same happens to the girl every winter.

“My daughter has been suffering from asthma for four years but her health condition usually gets worse in November and December as presence of dust during this time remains high,” Based said.

A third grader of Uttara High School and College, Upoma could not sit for her ongoing annual examination due to bad health.

Based said the road and surface drain development work of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) was going on in front of his house for the last one month, which was generating a huge amount of dust.

It is not only the north of Dhaka city that is producing dust and causing health complications, the same problem exists in the south.

A resident of Taliroad of Rayerbazar, Parvin Mita, has been allergic to dust for eight years. But in the last three weeks, the problem became compounded because of dust near her house. In fact the whole family of Parvin, including her husband and son, is facing this health condition.

Doctors advised them many times to protect themselves from dust, but it was next to impossible for them because the development work of utility service organisations apparently is never-ending, she said, adding that one started after another while some took too long to finish.

Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) had cut Taliroad and its adjoining streets last year to set up water supply lines, for which they suffered for around one year but sewerage pipe installation work has been going on in the area for the last one month again, Parvin said.

She said many families of her neighbourhood were having similar health complications due to dust.

Experts have long complained of Dhaka city's increasing air pollution caused by dwindling greenery, with perennial construction and development work compounding the problem. While these works make people suffer by restricting their mobility in the overcrowded city, these are also taking a toll on public health as testified by the victims like Upoma and Parvin.

Doctors say the high level of air pollution had increased the number of patients with coughing and breathing problems in winter.

The capital's air is thick with dust due to construction of residential buildings, flyovers, metro rail, elevated expressway, and digging of roads by the utility service organisations.

Locals in different city areas have said most of these "development works" are done without spraying any water to minimise dust.

Chairman of Save the Environment Movement Abu Naser Khan said road digging without any plan, demolition of old buildings without keeping proper protection, keeping construction materials on the road, transporting construction materials in open trucks, crushing stones through machines, construction of flyovers, emission of black smoke by vehicles, factories, and brick fields were the main reasons of air pollution during winter.

“We have to stop the source of dust to reduce the pollution during winter,” he said.

The Wasa is setting up water pipelines and sewerage lines in different parts of the city including Gabtoli, while road digging is going in the road from Mirpur-10 to Agargaon for the metro rail. DNCC has also excavated roads in Mirpur 6, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 and Uttara areas. Different roads of Lalmatia are also in bad condition due to digging. The same fate happened to the Shwarighat to Babubazar road.

The construction work of Moghbazar flyover, which has been going on for years, has been a major source of dust, as construction supervisors do not spray sufficient water around the site. Residents in the area have complained that they are forced to inhale dust every day.

Director (air quality) of Department of Environment Ziaul Haque said road digging in different parts of the capital was one of the main reasons of increasing dust during winter.

He said some other reasons of increasing dust and reducing air quality were large-scale construction works, including of residential buildings, and the operation of brick fields during winter.

Although these problems are not serious in nature, prolong exposure to dusty air may lead to lung cancer or interstitial lung disease (ILD), Dr Kazi S Bennoor, assistant professor of respiratory medicine at the National Institute of Diseases of Chest and Hospital (NIDCH), told The Daily Star.

ILD reduces the amount of oxygen in the body, and can cause death, he said.

“Both toxic air and dust pollution can cause diseases like asthma, bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, nasal allergy, and rhinitis," he added.

The veteran physician strongly recommended spraying of water at construction sites twice a day.

Dr Bennoor said avoiding dust was very necessary as part of the prevention of the diseases.

Chief waste management officer of DNCC Abdur Razzak said DNCC was taking protection measures during development works, and as part of that their contractors were removing mud from the digging spot as soon as possible.

He said they sprayed water but the spot got dry soon afterwards and generated dust while using excessive water was not suitable for work as it created clay.