Each year, thousands of industries such as tanneries, brick kilns, and dyeing mills spew lethal gases into the atmosphere day and night. And yet the new pollution standards set by the Air Quality Monitoring Project (AQMP), a project financed through a World Bank loan of Tk 23.16 crore and a government fund of Tk 5.84 crore, only incorporates vehicular emissions. In contrast, other developing countries like Sri Lanka, India and Myanmar have strict standards for both vehicular and industrial emissions to control air, land and water pollution.

Sources in the DoE said that the standards on vehicular emissions were set as per recommendations by the World Bank. The proposed standards are now being vetted by the Ministry of Law and Parliamentary Affairs, before being officially adopted. The AQMP however is working to set standards for ambient air. But even these ambient air standards would only be used for warning people of air quality around them ---- not for identifying and prosecuting any polluters.

World Bank officials said that industrial emissions were not taken into consideration because their findings showed that industrial air pollution was 'low' compared to vehicular pollution. Dr M Khaliquzzaman of the World Bank Environment and Social Team told The Daily Star that Dhaka's air is mainly polluted with vehicular emissions, bio-mass burning and re-suspended dust.

"Air pollution from industrial sources is lower than vehicular sources and that is why we have not considered setting standards for industrial emissions," Dr Khaliquzzaman said.

About massive air pollution caused by the tanneries, brick kilns and other industries in the country, Khaliquzzaman said that those were "localised problems" not effecting the people in general.

It may be mentioned here that air pollution in the city's Hazaribagh, Rayer Bazar, Lalbagh, Basila, Kamrangirchar and Washpur areas ---- where tannery wastes are dumped ---- is so intense that people have developed various respiratory and skin diseases, according to findings by environmental groups. The poisonous air causes erosion of corrugated tins, ornaments and all utensils. According to a report quoted by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, tannery wastes affect about one million people, making the Hazaribagh tanneries one of the single largest urban polluters in the world.

An official source in the Ministry of Environment and Forest said that the government does not want to "upset" the influential industrialists by setting any standards. He said their reports showed that among the industries there are serious polluters of the land, air and water but nothing "drastic could be done to stop them."

During winter about 5,000 brick kilns around the city spew huge amounts of black smoke into the atmosphere, enveloping the city with smog. This causes various respiratory problems.