& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Steps this month to stop honking of horns

SOHEL ISLAM
The Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) has almost finalised the draft proposal of Noise Pollution (Control) Rules and its gazette notification may be completed by the end of this month.
"Although we wanted to finalise the rules by December 2003, we are running a bit late as we had to discuss it with different stakeholders like the home ministry, public works and housing, local government, religious and information ministries, the election commission, environmental experts and others," MoEF Minister Shahjahan Siraj said.
The Department of Environment (DoE) headed by its Director General prepared the proposed Noise Pollution (Control) Rules in November last year and sent it to the MoEF for approval.
"There are some minor changes in the draft. We will now send it to the law ministry, which will take the next step," said Siraj.
"Before preparing the proposal, the DoE experts had to go through existing rules for noise pollution in
neighbouring countries and also considered the realities of the cities and towns," the minister added.
The proposed rules have kept a provision for a Tk 5,000 fine for primary violators and two-month imprisonment if they fail to pay the fine or both sentences.
If the primary violators again break the law, the authorities will fine them Tk 10,000 and six months of imprisonment in case of failing to pay the amount or they have to go through both.
Under present laws, noise polluting motorised vehicles can be fined up to Tk 2,000 and six months imprisonment if fines are
not paid.
The draft has classified the areas of a city, town and other parts of the country and fixed the noiselimit accordingly. The noise level has been fixed at 45 decibel for silent, 50 for residential, 60 for mixed, 70 for commercial and 75 for industrial areas during daytime (6am to 9pm).
At night it will be 35 decibel for silent, 40 for residential, 50 for mixed, 60 for commercial and 70 for industrial areas.
The draft also observed that lack of public awareness and unplanned urbanisation was behind the ever-increasing noise level in Dhaka and other areas of the country.
The proposed rules will not be applicable to the Azan, religious and public meetings, military activities, fire services, election campaigns and aircrafts.
The DG of the DoE or his appointed person(s) will be entitled to execute the rules.
"The noise in most part of Dhaka city's traffic is above the limit prescribed by the U S Environmental Protection Agency. The prescribed level of the agency is 80 decibels (dcb) as safe average for 24 hours," sound quality & comfort researcher Shafiquzzaman Khan told the Daily Star recently
"The characteristic of a horn is impulsive and has a very harmful impact. Excessive noise producing 35 dcb onwards can be very detrimental to school going children. It can primarily increase their heartbeats and blood pressure. Other manifestations consist of nausea, dizziness, gastrointestinal problems, tiredness and behavioural troubles such aggressiveness and sleep disturbances," said Khan.