NEW DELHI: Delhi residents have violated all the noise pollution standards prescribed in the law in every category. As per the latest report submitted by the Delhi government to National Green Tribunal (NGT), the main culprits are vehicles, air conditioning exhausts and markets on roads, among others. The report, filed by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), identified 26 fresh locations where noise pollution monitoring systems have been installed this year taking the total number of stations to 31.
According to the report, vehicular movement, traffic congestion, honking of horns, bottlenecks on roads and congestion at traffic signals are the major causes of noise pollution in the national capital. The report said that noise across industrial, commercial and residential areas as well as silence zones exceeded prescribed levels.
“On analysis of the data carried out by DPCC, it has been observed that in the case of 5 silence zones, the average noise levels in both day and night have exceeded the standards prescribed under the Noise Rules, 2000. Similarly, in the case of 7 residential and 9 commercial areas the recorded noise levels in both day and night times have exceeded the standards,” said the report. These are the areas where data was analysed until June 2020.
To bring the noise down within permissible limits, the DPCC has decided to form ground-level teams near its stations to identify the local sources of the noise. The teams will be equipped with a hand-held sound level meter. The NGT has directed it to find a solution to clear out bottlenecks on roads and reduce congestion to reduce noise levels.
The tribunal also came down heavily on Delhi government and police saying that the two-member committee with their representatives was set up last year but has been “non-functional”. It directed the Chief Secretary and Police Commissioner to “ensure that their representatives are duly and jointly functional and conduct weekly meetings and maintain the minutes of meetings and the website”.
A monitoring committee headed by a retired high court judge will be set up to oversee the progress in compliance of orders Due to the unique nature of governance in the national capital, the NGT has directed that all the agencies — DPCC, MCDs, police, and the environment department — work in tandem to find a solution to exceeding noise levels.