Noise Pollution Needs To Be Treated On Par With Other Forms Of Pollution.

The Mumbai Police on 5^th May, wrote to automobile manufacturers and requested to lower the sound limit of vehicle horns in accordance with Supreme Court’s direction on noise pollution. Currently, the prescribed decibel limit is 55 db during day 45 db during nights, 50 db during day and 40 during night, 70 during day and 70 during night for residential, silent and industrial zones respectively in Mumbai.

Noise pollution is one of the neglected forms of pollution and it does not receive attention at par with other forms of pollution. According to WHO (World Health Organization), noise is harmful when it exceeds 75 decibels. Prolonged exposure to loud noise can be detrimental and is said to affect physical, and psychological wellbeing.

The UNEP (United Nations Environment Program) report released earlier this year says “Regular exposure to eight hours a day to 85 db of sound can permanently eliminate the ability to hear. Not only can that exposure to relatively low noise pollution for long periods in cities harm physical and mental health.” The report also holds Indian city Moradabad as second noisiest city on the planet.  

CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board) a statutory organization constituted in 1974 which also monitors the noise pollution, proposed a new set of fines under the noise pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000 in 2020. The revised norms now propose a fine ranging from 10,000 to 100,000 for violations.

Environment Forest and Climate Change Ministry, last year informed parliament that, CPEC in association with states have installed 70 numbers of noise monitoring in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Mumbai. The then minister Babul Supriyo representing the Ministry had said that 14 out of 16 in residential zones, 11 out of 25 in Commercial zones, o out of 12 in Industrial zone and 17 out of 17 zones in silence zones are not complying with ambient noise standards during the day.