Hyderabad: Noise pollution levels in the city have reached alarming proportions. Citizens in several areas in the city are facing noise pollution beyond permissible levels. The State Pollution Control Board (PCB) and traffic police are grappling with the problem not knowing to how to curb it.
Honking horns endlessly by all types of vehicles, particularly the four-wheelers has a deleterious effect on the health of citizens, experts have warned. Lack of awareness or arrogance on the part of drivers and the absence of good roads are some of the reasons cited for rise in noise levels. People in the residential areas complain of vehicles endlessly blaring out high volume horns.
The deafening decibels of horns do have hazardous effect on the health of people and damage hearing. The PCB has real time noise monitoring stations at different places in the limits of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). The monitoring data shows that the noise pollution is exceeding the permissible levels by 15 per cent in areas like Jubilee Hills, Tarnaka, Punjagutta, Abids, Paradise, JNTU, RC Puram, Jeedimetla, Zoo Park, Gaddapotharam and Gachibouli.
The noise level in any areas should not exceed ambient air quality standards as per the section 190(2) of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. Fine up to Rs 1,000 for first offence and subsequent offences at Rs 2,000 as per offence are imposed. For the subsequent offences the vehicle mounted audio system and accessories shall be removed and confiscated in addition to other penalties.
Additional commissioner police (Traffic) Jithender said “honking is a major issue which has to be controlled. We are trying to curb the menace. It is difficult to be present everywhere and search every vehicle. We are trying to get an alternative technology to bring down pollution levels. People should also cooperate”.
A consultant clinical psychologist, Dr K Prashant, said honking affects the human ear and mind. Continues honking can lead to psychological problems and can also bring down the level of concentration. One must use horn only in time of emergency, he added.
The founder president of Vaada Foundation, Suresh, said honking is one of the major issues not only in the city, but all over India. There are three main issues of honking such as no proper infrastructure of roads, rash driving, etc. Speaking about the solution of honking of horn, Suresh said “We can solve the issue if we have proper infrastructure of roads and can also be solved by proper structure of roads, educating the people and enforcement of the rules”.CII- Yi took up the responsibility of spreading social awareness over the issue, A campaign called ‘Horn Not OK Please’ (HNOP) was launched by CII-Yi.
