Noise pollution levels to be monitored

After air pollution, you will be able to find out the noise pollution level of your residential area in seven cities across India from November.

Pollution watchdog the Central Pollution Control Board is putting up online stations to monitor noise levels round the clock in these cities. “The information will be available to people through our website on real time basis,”said board’s chairman S.P. Gautam.

Noise pollution in most cities is above the norm and is rising at an alarming rate. As per a study done in 2008 by environment ministry, noise pollution levels in residential areas like Saket in Delhi, and in south Kolkata were 30-40 per cent higher than the standard of 55 dB.

“Mumbai was much better,” said a ministry official. “There citizens are active and police has strictly enforced noise pollution rules”. The problem is also emerging in towns such as Gurgaon, Navi Mumbai, Mathura and Agra.

In absence of data, no action is taken by authorities to control noise pollution. “Oncewehaveregular data we can suggest the authorities the corrective steps they should take,” Gautam said.

From November,the first set of monitoring centres will become functional in Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Lucknow. Each city will have five monitoring stations covering industrial, residential and commercial areas. The data will then be fed into a central server at CPCB headquarters, which will be displayed on the website.