Prime Minister Tarique Rahman underscored the need to replace conventional brick production with environmentally friendly alternative technologies to curb air pollution, while directing authorities to strengthen measures against both air and noise pollution.
The directives came during a meeting on environmental pollution chaired by the Prime Minister at his office in Tejgaon, Assistant Press Secretary Gazi Shahriar Pamy said.
According to Pamy, the meeting held extensive discussions on a range of initiatives aimed at reducing air and sound pollution, with particular emphasis on tackling emissions from brick kilns.
The Prime Minister stressed the importance of promoting eco-friendly brick manufacturing technologies and decided that swift and effective measures would be taken to curb air pollution caused by traditional brick kilns.
The meeting also reviewed ways to reduce excessive use of vehicle horns in Dhaka, a major source of noise pollution.
In this regard, the Prime Minister instructed law enforcement agencies to strictly enforce existing regulations against unnecessary horn use.
Participants also discussed the possible use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, similar to AI-powered traffic management cameras, to monitor and control excessive horn use across the capital.
To improve urban air quality, the Prime Minister directed the authorities to accelerate the removal of unfit, expired and environmentally polluting buses, trucks and other vehicles from Dhaka’s roads.
He further instructed the relevant agencies to install automatic traffic light systems at at least 50 additional intersections across the capital as quickly as possible to improve traffic management and reduce congestion-related emissions.
The meeting was attended by Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Abdul Awal Mintoo, State Minister Shaikh Faridul Islam, State Minister for Water Resources Forhad Hossain Azad, Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Environment, Forest and Climate Change Affairs Dr Md Saimum Parvez, Dhaka South City Corporation Administrator Md Abdus Salam, Dhaka North City Corporation Administrator Md Shafiqul Islam Khan, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mosleh Uddin Ahmed, Additional Police Commissioner (Traffic) Md Anisur Rahman, and senior officials from various ministries and agencies.
