HYDERABAD: Paradise in Secunderabad is the noisiest among all locations in the country where the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) monitors noise levels.
It may be mentioned that last month Minister for IT and MAUD KT Rama Rao had Tweeted saying that Mumbai’s ‘punishing signal’ initiative to control noise pollution on roads, needs to be replicated in Hyderabad as well.
The CPCB’s 2018 noise pollution data of 70 continuous noise monitoring stations set up in seven cities -- Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, Lucknow and Hyderabad, shows how much the Twin Cities need such an initiative.
According to the data, Paradise recorded 80 decibels (dB) on an average during day time and 81 dB on an average during night time in that year, much above than the permissible levels.
In each city, noise levels are monitored at 10 locations that are categorised as commercial, residential, silence and industrial areas.
Paradise is categorised as a commercial area and as per CPCB standards, maximum permissible noise level in a commercial area is 65 dB in the day time and 55 dB at night. The average noise levels recorded in 2018 at some of the busiest locations in other cities were lower than Paradise, including ITO in New Delhi (73 dB) or TNagar in Chennai (75 dB).
In fact, as per CPCB data, noise levels in commercial areas were recorded to be higher than in industrial areas. In case of Hyderabad, noise levels recorded in Paradise were higher than industrial areas Jeedimetla (70 dB) and Gaddapotharam (69 dB).
Noise levels were higher than prescribed limits even in residential zones. In Jubilee Hills and Tarnaka the noise levels recorded were 61 dB and 62 dB in day time, above the prescribed limit of 55 dB. This was also the case in silence zones like Hyderabad zoo, where at night the average noise level was 50 dB, much above the prescribed limit of 40 dB.