RAJSHAHI, once regarded as the cleanest and most liveable city, is now enveloped in a haze so thick that it has outstripped even Dhaka in pollution. What was once the pride of the north-west has turned into an emblem of environmental decline. Recent data show that the city’s air quality has for years hovered between ‘very unhealthy’ and ‘hazardous’ levels, often registering Air Quality Index scores above 300, at times nearing an astonishing 400. January and February alone saw prolonged episodes of toxic air, with PM2.5 concentration seven times the national 24-hour standard and nearly 30 times the World Health Organisation’s limit. Environmental experts attribute this rapid deterioration to unrestrained construction, unregulated vehicle and industrial emissions and the vanishing green spaces and water bodies. Studies show that Rajshahi has lost more than a quarter of its green cover over three decades, with built-up areas expanding by nearly the same proportion. The Padma’s exposed riverbed now adds to the assault as strong seasonal winds sweep silt and dust into the city. Physicians warn of rising respiratory ailments as residents now breathe what is effectively poisoned air.
What now looms over Rajshahi is not merely a city blanketed in dust but an entire population inching towards a slow and silent catastrophe. Bangladesh is already among the world’s worst victims of air pollution, with studies estimating that particulate matter alone shortens the average life in Bangladesh by more than six years. This means that millions are already living shortened lives, breathing air so toxic that every inhalation carries the burden of disease. If the current trend continues, cities such as Rajshahi will soon bear witness to a generation battling chronic respiratory ailments, cardiovascular disorders and cancer while economic productivity and social well-being erode under the weight of preventable illness. The science is unambiguous: unchecked pollution kills not by spectacle, but by attrition. Yet, sources of this decay are not mysteries. They are policy failures and institutional negligence. The reckless expansion of infrastructure, the stripping of trees under development projects and the apathy of urban authorities have together turned the air into an instrument of harm. The so-called progress has robbed the city of its natural shield. What is unfolding is not just an ecological crisis, those with means may flee to cleaner spaces while the majority, the poor and the voiceless, are left to live with consequences of unchecked development that they have never asked for.
The government should now confront the crisis not with rhetoric but with resolve. Rajshahi cannot afford another decade of environmental neglect masked as urban progress. Authorities should enforce dust and emission control at every construction site, halt tree felling and restore the green lungs with immediate replanting and preservation. Transparent oversight, local accountability and climate-conscious plans are the minimum debt owed to a suffocating population.
