New rules on noise levels caused by aircraft at airports

Bengaluru: The government seems to have finally woken up to the noise pollution caused by aircraft in and around airports. The Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change has published draft rules setting out the acceptable noise levels for airport operations.

The draft rules seek to amend ‘The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986’ and have been published by the ministry seeking public comments. According to the notification, the specified limits shall have a tolerance limit of 10 decibels. The notification states that the specified limit excludes aircraft landing and takeoff noise.

Besides, the airport noise zone limits in above table shall replace noise limits of area zones mentioned in Noise (Regulation & Control) Rules 2000 with reference to silence, residential and commercial area zones.

The notification states that noise standards within the boundary for various airports shall be as applicable for industrial areas, that is day time 75 dbA and night time 70 dBA, as an airport is also an industry. The notice adds that daytime means 6 am to 10 pm and night time from 10 pm to 6 am.

The notice states that ‘busy airports’ shall be as classified as major airports defined under the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India Act, 2008. A Bengaluru International Airport Ltd spokesperson said she was not aware of the developments and that they had not received any official communication from the ministry.