Dhaka 2nd Dirtiest City in the World?

[Arnab]

Yep, that's my Dhaka, my pride.

All cities are positioned against New York, the base city with an index score of 100. For the Health and Sanitation Rankings, the index scores range from the worst on the list--Baku, Azerbaijan, with a score of 27.6--to the best on the list--Calgary, Canada, with a score of 131.7.


Lead-poisoned air lands Dhaka, Bangladesh, the No. 2 spot on the list.

http://www.forbes.com/2008/02/26/pol...rtycities.html

[Omio]

We r unlucky, we should be num -1.

[Antora]

ahahah!!! wooohoooo!!! GO DHAKA!!!

[PoorFan]

Yeah sure, lets 'pour' some 'donation' with 'least interest' or 'no interest' through X, Y, Z to develop a 'clean city' Dhaka. There must be some highly experienced NGO consultants ( some says highly expensive ) over there, and all we need to just ask their favor. Luckily enough this is high time as 'saving environment' is an unanimous call all over the world.

[goru]

Damn you Baku!

[Alien]

Where did this Baku turn up from? Doesn't look like a bad city from pictures.

[Tigers_eye]

Com on Calcutta you can do better.

[Ehsan]

I was born in Dhaka, and I've been to Kolkata, and Delhi. If I had to rank these three cities, I would put Delhi first, followed by Dhaka, and then Kolkata.

I am not sure what these people were upto. I think they did not had the chance to visit Old Delhi, its worse than Old Dhaka. May be it due to Arsenic and stuff, not sure. How big is Aresenic a problem in Dhaka now? I have not been to Mumbai, but people tell me Mumbai is worse than Delhi...

[Pundit]

I fondly remember my 1981 trip to Bombay - the drive from the airport to hotel.

The road center island was lined up with street urchins unhesitatingly engaged in bowel movement.

[Tigers_eye]

Dhaka's CNG in last few years have changed the air (for better). May be they got the study pre-CNG era and continue to report on that. I have seen Houston, Toronto, Philly and other cities with worse air quality.

[ialbd]

ouch... the second dirtiest !!!

but mind it... this is the secret ingredient to the delicious streetside chotpoti/fuchka and all the other mouth watering things being sold....

[Ehsan]

Originally Posted by Tigers_eye
Dhaka's CNG in last few years have changed the air (for better). May be they got the study pre-CNG era and continue to report on that. I have seen Houston, Toronto, Philly and other cities with worse air quality.

Toronto? Are you sure? No, I think you are kidding. We have a good regulated environmental policy in place, although there is still room for improvement.

[AsifTheManRahman]

I could swear Kolkata's dirtier. But in any case, ei Baku hala kotthaika ashche amago bhaat marte?

[akabir77]

kool i am planning for a home trip after 8 years and 1st ever for my daughter....

Hoisey kam...

[Tigers_eye]

lol Ehsan,
"Smug" na ki jano amarey pura khaiya felsilo last time I visited. They say it was coming from America, lol. Where ever it came from, the air quality was worse than Farmgate at 2:00pm 1997-.

A black cloud like air engulfed Toronto.

Here in natural state I am not use to this kind of stuff.

[bdchamp20]

This is exactly why I moved to Narayanganj..it is much cleaner and when I return to BD I'll buy a house in Narayanganj...lots of people from Dhaka are moving there its a great place to raise a family and with the Metro plans, travelling to Dhaka will be literally nothing

[AsifTheManRahman]

I am trying to get my family to move out of Dhaka and settle in Chittagong or possibly Sylhet, but my rants are falling on deaf ears.

[bdchamp20]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiIVJDbxdDQ
look at this video, Dhaka city for u

[Ehsan]

Mizan bhai, I don't think I have witnessed anything near to what you've mentioned. All the manufacturing facilities are strictly regulated in Ontario. However, its true, we do have a transboundary pollution concern - http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/ne...5/061601mb.htm

'About half of our airborne pollution comes from across the border in the United States. That pollution is coming from dirty coal-fired plants in the Ohio valley and in the Midwest.'
-Dr. David McKeown, Toronto's medical health officer

Source: Canadian Cities petition U.S. to curb air pollution
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/...-petition.html

When was your last visit to Toronto? Where exactly you encountered such bad air? Just curious to know, we have the rights to report this to the ministry. But it is totally a different issue if its a transboundary pollution.

[Tigers_eye]

2005. On 404 Highway!! Jammed packed may be they had an accident, stuck for hours. And I think that was the transboundary pollution that you were talking about. Coughed for at least 3 days continuous. Stayed in downtown (sis) and Scarborough (shoshur bari). Very bad experience.

[ammark]

Originally Posted by Tigers_eye
2005. On 404 Highway!! Jammed packed may be they had an accident, stuck for hours. And I think that was the transboundary pollution that you were talking about. Coughed for at least 3 days continuous. Stayed in downtown (sis) and Scarborough (shoshur bari). Very bad experience.

Being a former downtown resident I think I have an idea of what you're talking about. Toronto gets some horrible air quality on the muggiest weeks of late July. There's a constant haze coming in from the lake (i.e Upstate NY) which envelopes the city. My shada chamra suburb dwelling dulabhai had plenty of issues with downtown, especially lakeside, summertime living just because of this air quality factor. However, having come from the then heavily leaded environment of Dhaka, I never minded the haze and air quality, as opposed to the crisp clear bone chilling winter winds that evokes plenty coughing within half a minute if not attired in a down jacket!

Aah... just down the road from my house, the sewage line is overflowing onto the street and flooding it. Stinks, looks awful, very unhygienic.... thats Dhaka. Its hot and humid now too (but not unbearably so) and I think its still a few days before it rains and washes the dust off. We might even have the typical March heatwave before that. I'm no expert in meteorology, but it seems to me that the humidity makes the air feel really thick and overladen. Then theres the smoke and dust ("smog", I think they call it) mixed with this moisture overladen air in the heat that probably makes the air so "unbearable".Come to think of it, go just outside Dhaka, and the air is smoggier because of the brick kilns! I mean, face it: Its hard to go one day without digging out a booger thats some shade near to black, whether in Dhaka or Ashulia. And its a good thing the electricity hasnt gone off in this heat; imagine the torment then??!

But I take all this in stride, this is Dhaka. Most often people tell me "shobai desh theke chole jete chay, ar tumi ulta ferot chole ashla?!" The disfunctionality of this city and its people isnt getting to me yet, and I think it'll still take quite a while too. Currently just observing the contrasts between life, perspectives & mindsets between here and the west... and trying to comprehend it. I really am not frustrated by anything YET

ps. I personally thought New Delhi was dirtier than Dhaka, and a REAL disappointment after all that you hear about the glass & steel of India Shining. But Apparently its in some other suburb that the glass and steel's come up. The Capital is still way dirtier

[Arnab]

Originally Posted by ammark
But I take all this in stride, this is Dhaka. Most often people tell me "shobai desh theke chole jete chay, ar tumi ulta ferot chole ashla?!" The disfunctionality of this city and its people isnt getting to me yet, and I think it'll still take quite a while too. Currently just observing the contrasts between life, perspectives & mindsets between here and the west... and trying to comprehend it. I really am not frustrated by anything YET

Good on you. Sometimes I find it unbearable. But then I remind myself that brown-skinned people like us are inherently dirty in body and mind. It's not in our upbringing to keep our surroundings clean. This same fact is reflected even in the west. The city quarters that are occupied by brown skinned tropical folks are inevitably the noisiest, dirtiest and smelliest.

[Tehsin]

Number 2 ? And you guys call yourself proud Dhakaiyas ? You're nothing but a big huge pile of dissapointment. Another dissapointment, Calcutta. Don't know how much have changed since 1995. I remember the putrid smell that engulfed all of Calcutta, the smog, the traffic, everything was memorable.

[cricman]

Originally Posted by Arnab
Good on you. Sometimes I find it unbearable. But then I remind myself that brown-skinned people like us are inherently dirty in body and mind. It's not in our upbringing to keep our surroundings clean. This same fact is reflected even in the west. The city quarters that are occupied by brown skinned tropical folks are inevitably the noisiest, dirtiest and smelliest.

Sterotype? or God's honest Truth?

[Ajfar]

Originally Posted by cricman
Sterotype? or God's honest Truth?

i think a lil bit of both..