KOLKATA: The city that had been the first to combat sound pollution two decades ago, has emerged as the country's noise capital with silence zones falling prey to the deafening cacophony of honking.
A study submitted by West Bengal Pollution Control Board to the National Green Tribunal on Wednesday showed that indiscriminate honking affected all the 10 major hospitals in the city, pushing the noise level far beyond the permissible limit. For patients and doctors, the honking menace does not provide any respite even at night.
The WBPCB report follows a May 23, 2017, directive from the NGT to measure the noise level at all major hospitals in the city.
The worst off is SSKM Hospital, where the wards facing the AJC Bose Road are the worst off during the day, followed by NRS Medical College Hospital and RG Kar. Doctors at the hospitals said cabbies ferrying patients into the hospital were as guilty of honking as motorists driving by.
"The hospital is located next to the busy Sealdah Station from where lakhs commute. Within the hospital premises, we have installed no honking signs but we cannot do anything about the noise generated outside. Those behind the wheel need to be more sensitive," said NRS Hospital deputy superintendent Dwaipayan Biswas.
During the night, the National Medical College Hospital was the worst off followed by SSKM Hospital and Calcutta Medical College Hospital.
DrArunabhaSengupta, the head of ENT department at SSKM Hospital, says that in addition to threatening the ear and nose, excessive noise adversely impacts the mind and mood. "A doctor is more at ease attending a patient in place where there is silence than somewhere noisy. It affects concentration," he said.
DebashishBasu, consultant at AMRI Hospital, Salt Lake, says sudden exposure to high decibel noise can lead to a catecholamine surge in cardiac patients and can cause deterioration of cardiac health and delay recovery of patients.
"But more than patients, doctors and para-medical staff are at risk since they are being exposed to the noise all through the year. Noise pollution can lead to irritation and auditory fatigue. The latter eventually leads to hearing impairment," he said.
Though the noise level at private hospitals also exceeded the limit, better enforcement of silence zones within the campus appears to have kept the levels lower than that of state hospitals. Even Woodlands, the only hospital, which is situated away from the main road, had noise levels higher than the threshold level though the variance it experiences between day and night noise is narrow.
To combat noise, most private hospitals have made the buildings sound-proof by sealing off windows. While it helps reduce noise and enhances air-conditioning efficiency, it also increases the risk of infections in a closed environment.
Shocked at the readings, NGT expressed concern over noise levels of 70 decibels at hospitals and remarked that it defeated the very purpose of categorising them as silence zones. "Drivers aren't trained or made aware when driving lessons are imparted," the judge remarked.
Acknowledging that the problem was compounded by the location of hospitals on busy and congested roads, the NGT judge has laid out multiple measures to check the rampant noise. To begin with, it wants sensitisation of drivers so that they are aware of the need to stay off the horn in silence zones that also includes schools, where students are also affected by honking.
The NGT has issued a directive to the environment department and WBPCB to jointly organise camps for drivers of taxis, buses, autos and other commercial vehicles.
