Noise levels alarmingly high in Chennai, says Centre's recent stats

Chennai: Singara Chennai has got a new tag. The city, which had managed to keep its noise pollution at check, with an exception during the festivals, is now on a high pitch.

Freshly released statistics by the ministry of environment reveals that Chennai is among the seven metropolitan cities to have exceeded permissible noise pollution levels.  

While the combined noise pollution average for the city remains uncalculated, Deccan Chronicle analyses the average levels of all the ten noise-monitoring stations (for Sunday), only to learn that the numbers are much beyond permissible levels.  

The 10 monitoring stations maintained by the Central Pollution Control Board include all four categories of the noise pollution standards –Quiet/ sensitive, commercial, residential and industrial.

The data (refer box) explains the pathetic condition of Chennaiites as sensitive areas (hospitals, schools and parks etc) have recorded over 20 per cent more than the permissible data, questioning the health of the vulnerable fraternity.
 According to officials of Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB), the average noise pollution levels had seen a gradual increase in the past five years. “Such alarming levels were earlier witnessed only during festivals and election canvass.

The situation has deteriorated in the past five years, due to increasing vehicle population and ongoing civic construction works including Metro Rail project,” said a senior official from TNPCB.

Did you know that a horn in a bullet bike could produce up to 105 decibels? While lack of awareness is the root cause for the growing noise pollution standards, lack of coordination between the regulatory, monitoring and executive agencies is the spoilsport, say environmentalists.

“People don’t realize how stressful noise pollution could be. It is the role of TNPCB to sensitise the general public on the permissible noise levels. The monitoring and executive agencies – transport department and Public health –are not concerned to put a check to the pollution. Coordination between the government bodies is not observed in any pollution control event,” said Shweta Narayan, Coordinator of the Community Environmental Monitoring.

The increasing craze for multi torn horns is yet another factor. Bike dealers at Pudupet told DC that they had been witnessing a spike in multi torn horns.
“We get more than 10 customers every day, who would want to tune their engines to produce a cracking noise. Demand to induce multi torn horns has also spiked up,” said a shop owner at Pudupet, C. Babu.