Prime Minister Orders Tough Action on Dhaka Air and Noise Pollution

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Saturday ordered authorities to intensify enforcement against air and noise pollution, emphasizing stricter action against polluting vehicles, brick kilns and excessive vehicle honking.

Chairing a high-level environmental meeting at the Prime Minister's Office, he instructed officials to adopt eco-friendly technologies for brick production. To address Dhaka's severe noise pollution, the Prime Minister directed law enforcement to curb unnecessary honking and explored integrating artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor horn usage, matching the city's new AI-based traffic camera system.

Furthermore, he ordered the immediate removal of unfit, expired, and highly polluting buses and trucks from capital streets. To ease traffic congestion and reduce idle emissions, the Prime Minister mandated the swift installation of automatic traffic lights at 50 additional locations across Dhaka.

The meeting was attended by Environment Minister Abdul Awal Mintoo, various state ministers, city corporation administrators and top Dhaka Metropolitan Police officials.