Living in a Lead-Hell

Sir, An alarming news item on number of dailies under above heading is the cause of concern for all sane citizen of Dhaka city. However, it is not understood how on earth the authority concerned in the Environment Ministry can explain this disastrous situation which is of course the outcome of accumulated negligence or total indifference for some time in the past. Effect of the excessive lead contents is said to be extremely damaging for the old people and the children in particular. Even if the people in the helm of affairs may like to do away with the elderly citizen, in this process the effect on our future generation after survival of as many residual babies through this ordeal may result in a population of sick human beings who will be useless resources suffering from many after effects of the highly polluted air.

In the recent years we have seen authorities in Mexico city, Manila, Paris and many other cities of developed countries adopting crash SOS measures to save their peoples from such slow poisoning.

How about our prime minister taking a serious look into the matter? We are confident she cannot allow such a state of affairs to continue uninterrupted. We feel it is worth declaring a state emergency/disaster as it may be appropriately called in civilised world.

To tackle such natural calamities, two immediate measures the government should and must take are:

1. Total ban on vehicles with two stroke engines in Dhaka city immediately, and in other cities gradually.

2. Introduction of lead-free fuel for all types of vehicle.

We urge upon the government to act quickly before it is too late.