Dhaka, the second dirtiest city in the world - Instablogs
Dhaka, the second dirtiest city in the world
Rezwan , Dhaka: Mar 13 2008
Made Popular Mar 13 2008
Bangladesh :

The way Dhaka city is being developed you know this was coming since long time. Every development, every growth is concentrated on this Mega city, which is the capital of Bangladesh.

Forbes Magazine lists Dhaka as the second dirtiest city in the world. The main culprit is lead-poisoned air. Traffic congestion in the capital continues to worsen with vehicles emitting fatal amounts of air pollutants daily, including lead.

The unplanned growth of city, more and more people pouring in from rural areas to the city slams and the narrow streets unable to cope with the traffic of these people have augmented the miseries.

The solution is simple, decentralize from Dhaka. Transfer the Government Secretariats to outskirts of Dhaka including housing compounds. Give importance to other commercial cities like Chitatgong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet etc. Encourages businesses to shift major portions out of Dhaka. Make special zone for Garments industries outside Dhaka and Shift the factories there. But will we able to see these changes in 10-20 years of time? Otherwise the number 1 spot is secure for Dhaka.

Baku in Azerbaijan has clinched the top slot with its life-threatening levels of air pollution emitted from oil drilling.

Here is the complete list of the 25 dirtiest cities of the world:
Dhaka, the second dirtiest city in the worldNo. 25: Port Harcourt, Nigeria
No. 24: New Delhi, India
No. 23: Maputo, Mozambique
No. 22: Luanda, Angola
No. 21: Niamey, Niger
No. 20: Nouakchott, Mauritania
No. 19: Conakry, Guinea Republic
No. 18: Lome, Togo
No. 17: Pointe Noire, Congo
No. 16: Bamako, Mali
No. 15: Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
No. 14: Moscow, Russia
No. 13: Bangui, Central African Republic
No. 12: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
No. 11: Ndjamena, Chad
No. 10: Brazzaville, Congo
No. 9: Almaty, Kazakhstan
No. 8: Baghdad, Iraq
No. 7: Mumbai, India
No. 6: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
No. 5: Mexico City, Mexico
No. 4: Port au Prince, Haiti
No. 3: Antananarivo, Madagascar
No. 2: Dhaka, Bangladesh
No. 1: Baku, Azerbaija

(Image: Polluted Dhaka - copyright Ahron de Leeuw and used under creative commons license)

Tags: Environment, pollution, Dhaka
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Hasibul
1 Stars
Hasibul Mar 13 2008
Dhaka, Bangladesh
File Type: Video
Rezwan, the biggest problem is of corrupt politicians who are busy pocketing the development and infrastructre money for themselves.

I think we all should protest by throwing all our garbage in their homes someday.

I think Forbes has just collected data for capitals, otherwise I am sure many of Bangladeshi cities would have made that list.

Here’s the video tour of the world’s second most dirtiest city.
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Anil
2 Stars
Anil unholywars.org Mar 13 2008
Delhi, India
Forget this categorisation by the west. New Delhi figures 24th in the list of 25th but have you seen the traffic jam in this capital of India. But the point is that over-centralisation of power centre in the national captal in every country, in particular the Asian countries. Everyone clamours for the decentralization but at the same time everyone wants to cling to the national capital. It seems that we are waiting for the chaos out of which a new order can emerge. Shankar, the great Bengali novelist in his book Chaurangi asks for a catastrophe to be fall on this Indian sub-continent to emerge something new.
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Yash
1 Stars
Yash Mar 14 2008
Bhopal, India
I do agree with the comment published above my comment. I invite the foreign media to report about Delhi on the day of any political rally, particularly the rally organised by ruling party (like Kisan rally organised on March 9). I was in the city for an official work and faced horrible situation on road standing 3-4 hours without movement of even 500 meter to any direction. Delhi has become the city of political hooligans, rallies and VIPs.
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Garima
1 Stars
Garima Mar 14 2008
Nagpur, India
Delhi deserved to be the dirtiest city in the world but thanks to Mr. Jagmohan (former urban development minister in NDA government) Who did everything to implement the CNG scheme in buses and auto rickshaws and saved the soul of Delhi.
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Chintan
1 Stars
Chintan Mar 14 2008
Ambala, India
Two Indian cities in top 25 dirtiest cities in the world!! Is anybody there to accept the blame for this? We Indians should keep reminding ourselves and young generation that keeping our surroundings clean is not just personal or individual goals but it helps environment to give us clean air to breathe. If we do not act in hurry in this direction the coming generation would blame us as we blame others.
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Nitesh
1 Stars
Nitesh Mar 14 2008
Chennai, India
Everyone thinks - who cares? where is the time to think about cleanliness of the city? This is the duty of government and municipal administration not ours. This is the main reason why Mumbai, and Delhi are in the list.
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Gaurav
2 Stars
Gaurav Mar 14 2008
Banglore, India
I am surprised to see names of only two Indian cities in the list. I propose two more names - Hyderabad and Bangalore to be included in the list. You just visit any part of the two cities and find high levels of garbage strewn around almost everywhere, overflowing drainage system, open sewers, people are free to spit and urinate anywhere, no control on smoking at public places despite a law in place, automobiles spewing uncontrolled emission despite labeling pollution control certificate sticked on the vehicle. The residents of apartments use nearby vacant sites to dump garbage and invite environmental pollution. We have forgotten the meaning of 'clean' in fact.
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Farah
1 Stars
Farah Mar 14 2008
Dhaka, Bangladesh
I am really surprised to see the list and name of Dhaka at the second place. I love Dhaka, its my birth place and and I don't want to see becoming the dirtiest city in the world. Government should take serious steps to make the city clean and this is the high time to take action before things are impossibly out of control.
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Minhaz
1 Stars
Minhaz Mar 14 2008
Dhaka, Bangladesh
I was born in Dhaka, and I have been to Kolkata, and Delhi for years and now I am back to my mother country. If anyone ask me to rank among three cities, which one is the dirtiest I would obviously put Delhi at first place then Kolkata and then Dhaka. The area of old Delhi is worse than Old Dhaka. BTW some of my friends say Mumbai is worse than Delhi.
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Ishita
1 Stars
Ishita Mar 14 2008
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Ooooops, Dhaka the second dirtiest city!!! Its unbelievable!! let me tell you a secret, the dirt and the pollution are the secret ingredient to the delicious street-side selling chotpoti and fuchka. You just can't wait to have one if you go there.
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Muhammad
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Muhammad Mar 14 2008
Islamabad, Pakistan
Number two? and you Bangladeshi are satisfied with the second position? Just fight for the top position as you fight in cricket otherwise how would you call yourself proud Bangladeshis? Look at the Indians They have already two cities in top 25 and raring to include more (read comment of Gaurav from Bangalore). How can the Forbes miss Kolkata and its putrid smell.
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