The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Awful din near `silent zones'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 16, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Awful din near `silent zones'

By T. Lalith Singh

Ambient Air Quality Standards In Respect of Noise

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Category of area Limits in Decibels (Day Time) Limits in Decibels (Night Time)

Industrial Area 75 70

Commercial Area 65 55

Residential Area 55 45

Silent Zone 50 40

HYDERABAD, OCT. 15. Almost four years after the State Government issued orders to contain noise levels around hospitals and demarcate them as `silent zones', authorities concerned have remained silent on the move. And din, instead of the prescribed silence, continues to reign around scores of health institutions in the city.

Given the deleterious effects of noise pollution, the Union Ministry of Environment has come out with the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, and the State Government has followed suit, with orders seeking demarcations such as industrial, commercial, residential and silent zones of different areas.

Hospitals, along with educational institutions and courts, are to be earmarked as silent zones and noise levels have to be maintained below 40 decibels during night and 50 decibels during day.

MCH apathy

Though four years have elapsed since the orders came into force, the designated authority, the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) in this case, admits non-implementation of the same. And this has resulted in the city police, who have to enforce and take action against violators, remaining unsure of the zone stipulations.

Signages should be put up at identified places, seeking silence on the premises and prohibiting use of horns by motorists. Among others, the restrictions also include a check on vehicles with a stipulation that their audio systems should not be heard more than seven metres from the vehicle and also on use of loud speakers and sound amplifiers.

More noise in store

According to the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB), which monitors the environment at Abids, Punjagutta, Paradise, Charminar, Zoo Park and KBRN Park, the city is increasingly getting swamped by the din. The average noise levels in the city have been put at 82 decibels against the standard 65 decibels, and they appear poised for a further rise given the spurt in the number of vehicles joining the city roads every year.

The PCB monitoring of Punjagutta has shown that the junction is being subjected to a noise level of above 80 decibels during day time though Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) is located a few paces down. This violates stipulations that noise levels be below 50 decibels in an area 100 metres from a hospital. Similar is the situation at other hospitals, whether it is Gandhi Hospital, Osmania General Hospital, ESI Hospital or the Institute of Mental Sciences.

Ill-effects

Environmentalists have been expressing concern over the menace, attributing several ill-effects such as loss of hearing, lack of sleep, irritability, heart burn and high blood pressures, apart from affecting the psychological wellbeing, to the increased din.

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