Local government, rural development and cooperatives minister Md Tazul Islam told Jatiya Sangsad on Tuesday that 11 per cent of the people of Bangladesh were at risk of arsenic contamination.
The minister said this in response to a question of ruling Awami League lawmaker Morshed Alam during the question and answer session in the parliament.
He said that according to the joint survey of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and the UNICEF, Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2019, 11 per cent of the country鈥檚 total population was currently at risk of arsenic contamination.
Highlighting various government projects to protect common people from arsenic, the minister said that various projects were being implemented in rural areas through the Directorate of Public Health and Engineering.
Under these projects, 10.65 lakh arsenic-free water sources will be established by 2025, he said, adding that in this case, apart from deep tube wells, the piped water supply system, the rainwater storage system and pond excavation and re-excavation along with solar-powered pond sand filter will be installed.
This will reduce the risk of arsenic contamination by 5 to 6 per cent by 2025, he added.
In response to a question of ruling party reserved seat lawmaker Faridun Nahar Laili, Tazul Islam said that the government had revised the existing organisational structure, also known as organogram, of the Dhaka Mosquito Control Department to expand the activities of the department in Dhaka and the entire country.
Plans to establish a full-fledged directorate may be adopted, he said.
He said that by changing the existing organisational structure of the Dhaka Mosquito Control Department, new manpower would be created, machinery and standard insecticides would be purchased as well as a permanent lab would be established for mosquito pest testing.
In response to a question of independent lawmaker Khosru Chowdhury, the minister said that because of the dengue outbreak, insecticides were being sprayed by identifying mosquito breeding places through drones.
He said that larvicides and adulticides were being sprayed on a regular basis in all the wards of the city corporation. Besides, based on information received from the health department, immediate inspections were carried out at patients鈥� houses and insecticide was sprayed on them.