Hyderabad: An example of effectively controlling noise pollution was recently reported from Bodh Gaya in Bihar where government departments such as the Pollution Control Board, traffic police and transport departments came together to curb noise pollution — resulting in a drastic drop of nearly 50 per cent.
While the Telangana State Pollution Control Board officials say that controlling noise pollution is not in their hands — as it is mainly due to honking by motorists — and that the responsibility falls on the traffic police, a senior traffic police official said the first step is to identify high noise pollution zones. But no such detailed report has been submitted by the TSPCB to them.
The traffic official said, “Controlling noise pollution is indeed in our agenda and we are trying to find ways of how, apart from educating people, we can enforce punishments using technology.” Dr C. Shekhar Singh, a consultant ENT surgeon at Karkhana said, “While noise pollution can have immediate health effects such as anxiety and psychological disturbance, in the long-term, prolonged exposure to loud noise can even impair hearing or cause tinnitus, which needs immediate medical help as it causes a constant humming sound in the ears — which is especially irritating when one is trying to sleep. Simple measures like using ear plugs is enough and those who get exposed to noise regularly should get a pure tone audiometry test done.”
