BENGALURU: The Transport Department checked 28,912 vehicles for sound pollution between April 1 and April 22. Out of these, 1,517 vehicles were found to have horns which crossed the noise level limit of 80-90 dBA, as specified in the Motor Vehicles Act.

Releasing these figures a day before a High Court hearing on the issue, Transport Commissioner Ramegowda said that the drive was carried out because of the increasing air and noise pollution in the city and also because of the fact that the High Court was hearing the case.

However, Ramegowda cited severe staff shortage and said that enforcement work was being affected because of this.

According to him, there were 930 posts vacant out of a total of 2,820 sanctioned posts. “We have been working without rest to carry out these drives with the help of Home Guards and other staff,” he said.

There may be some relief for the transport department as a notification is expected soon for the recruitment of 150 inspectors. “The cabinet has approved it and a notification should be issued by the KPSC soon,” he said.

Interestingly, Bengaluru (East) has the lowest number of vehicles checked and cases booked with only 45 being checked for air pollution and 18 cases being booked. Officials said that this was because of shortage of inspectors in the area.

Jnana Bharati RTO has booked the maximum cases of air pollution with 803 cases and Rs 3.25 lakh collected as fine.

For use of shrill horns, Electronics City RTO booked the most cases with 340 violations and Jnana Bharati came a close second with 317 cases. A total of 1,095 horns were removed physically by RTO staff and a total of 1,517 cases booked.

Between April 2014 and March 2015, there were 9,818 cases of air pollution and 3,960 cases of sound pollution booked against vehicles. The Transport Department managed to achieve 18 per cent of this figure for air pollution and 38 per cent for sound pollution cases in less than a month. “We will continue the drive,” Ramegowda said.

2-stroke to Go?

The government is considering a proposal to do away with two-stroke autos in city. The proposal includes an increase in subsidy to purchase four-stroke autorickshaws to Rs 50,000.