During a high-level meeting held under the chairmanship of chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh on Monday, the transport department has been instructed to bring a proposal before the state government to seek approval on prohibiting registration and movement of high- end SUVs and bikes.

Besides, a decision was also taken to bring a proposal at the earliest to prohibit movement of all diesel-operated vehicles more than 15 years old in the town area of Patna. A decision taken in this regard by the state transport authority is awaiting execution from October 2013.

Proposals in this regard were also put forth during the review meeting of the environment and forests department under the chairmanship of chief minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday.

Sources claimed that such strict measures are being mooted by the authorities to release the stranglehold of air pollution on the state capital.

Last week on Monday, the Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB) sent an advisory to the chief secretary stating that the air quality index of Patna crossed 400 in November-December, breaking all its past record. The index is an assessment of the air quality taking into account eight pollutants - PM2.5 (particulate matter less than 10 micron), PM10 (particulate matter less than 10 micron), nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide, ammonia and lead.

"The air quality in Patna has deteriorated badly lately mainly owing to high level of tiny particulate matter. According to recent observation, road dust, transport, open waste burning, brick kilns and construction activities among others have been found to have led to such alarming level of air pollution. Accordingly, the state government is contemplating bringing certain restrictions on vehicular movement," said a senior state government official present in the meeting.

Deliberating on the reason behind prohibiting high-end SUVs and bikes, the official said: "Patna is comparatively a smaller city faced with too much of traffic load leading to frequent snarls and higher vehicular emission. It has been assessed that people can meet their travel-related needs in the city even with smaller vehicles, which in turn, will curb air pollution as well."

Decibel inaction

Though severe measures are being contemplated to curb air pollution, not much is being done by the authorities to control alarming level of noise pollution.

According to an annual report on noise level monitoring of Patna town prepared by Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB) for the year 2013-14, only four out of 19 locations in sensitive/silence zones, 32 out of 96 locations under residential zone and four out of eight locations under industrial zone, showed ambient noise level within the permissible limit as prescribed by Noise Pollution Control Rule, 2000, under the Environment Protection Act, 1996.

The only measure being contemplated by the state authorities in this regard is to delegate executive powers to curb noise pollution to senior deputy collector-level officers. "Till now, only district magistrates were empowered to take any action in pursuance of Environment Protection Act but a proposal has been floated to delegate such powers up to the level of district collector," said a senior official in the environment and forests department.

Even Patna High Court has lately taken up the issue of noise pollution. Taking cognisance of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Samir Kumar, the high court on Monday asked the state and central governments regarding any mechanism followed to curb noise pollution and whether their circulars regarding the same are actually followed in practice.

Samir, in his petition, has pleaded before the court to issue directives to the authorities concerned to enforce various laws to curb noise pollution. Samir has pleaded in his PIL that the actual noise levels at majority places in the city, especially in residential areas, are getting recorded higher than the respective permissible levels.

According to World Health Organisation guidelines related to noise pollution, continuous exposure of human ear to any sound over and above 90dB can cause noise trauma, which can manifest in uneasiness, headache and nausea that can lead to irreversible hearing loss.

Health experts have claimed that noise-induced hearing loss can at times be permanent and incurable in nature. "Children and elderly people above the age of 50 years are most prone to noise-induced hearing loss. If the sound is more than 60dB (ringing telephone) for 8-10 hours a day, it will produce slow hearing loss. After repeated exposure over a period of time, this can transform into permanent hearing loss. On the other hand, exposure to sound levels above 90dB (traffic, shouting) for 3-4 hours a day can lead to headache, uneasiness and indigestion, while exposure to above 120dB (honking horns, train, loud music) for 1- 2 hours will cause high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries and insomnia accompanied by permanent hearing loss," said Dr DiwakarTejaswi.