Sunday, Apr 28, 2002
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Kerala
By G. Mahadevan
A study on noise levels carried out by the Atmospheric Sciences Division of the Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS) in the three cities has, perhaps for the first time in the State, quantified the decibel din generated by traffic, various festivals and by poll campaigns. According to the norms laid down in The Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, issued in February 2000 the permissible sound levels at an `Industrial' location are 75 and 70 decibels during the day and night respectively. In a `Commercial' location the figures are 65 and 55 decibels while in a `Residential' locality, the sound levels should not exceed 55 and 45 decibels. In a `Silent' zone the sound levels should be within 50 and 40 decibels during day and night respectively. Recordings of noise levels carried out at 26 locations at Kochi revealed that the level of sound pollution in the city was very high. In fact the highest levels of noise were found at the city's three silent zones- the Court Junction, the Medical Trust Hospital and the District Hospital. At the Court Junction, the noise measured at 12.07 p.m. was 74.9 decibels, which is 24.9 decibels over the prescribed limit. Near the Medical Trust Hospital, noise levels at 10-22 a.m. were to the tune of 78.2 decibels - 28.2 decibels over the limit. Near the District Hospital, the noise measured at 9-54 a.m. was 79.35 decibels, 29.35 decibels too much. At Banerjee Road while noise levels exceeded the limits by 17 decibels, the corresponding figures for the District Court Complex was 13.71 decibels, for the Kochi Corporation, 17 decibels, for the Kacheripadi junction, 17.2 and for the Kaloor bus stand, 16.9 decibels. At Panampilly Nagar, the noise level at 11.55 a.m. was 40.7 decibels; 14.3 decibels below the set limits. According to the study, this is the only place in the State among the areas studied, where noise pollution does not exist. The readings were done during May 14-17, 2001. The study team carried out recordings at 21 locations at Kozhikode. Here too it was at the five Silent Zones in the city - PVS hospital, Government Hospital, Baby Hospital, MCH and the W&C hospital - where the highest decibel overshoots were recorded. The highest overshoot was near the W&C Hospital where noise levels were 28.3 decibels over the prescribed norms. The area in Kozhikode where noise levels exceeded the set limits the least was Palayam where the overshoot was `only' 7 decibels. Though the reading obtained near the Government hospital was the second lowest reading in all the three cities, this reading too exceeded permissible limits by 17.6 decibels. The recordings at Kozhikode were done during May 23 to 25, 2001. In Thiruvananthapuram too, it was at the silent zones of Medical College and General Hospital where there was the highest difference between recorded noise levels and the prescribed limits. At the General Hospital junction, the noise levels at 10-20 a.m. exceeded the set limits by as much as 30.1 decibels. Apart from this the CESS team also recorded noise levels at Manacaud and Peroorkada during a festival time during March 2001 and found that noise levels became almost double the permissible levels even during the night time. In fact the average noise level recorded from inside a house at Peroorkada during festival time was 87.7 decibels and the peak noise was of the order of 105. 8 decibels. The study found that the election campaign of May 2001 also contributed to the general din in the city. Noise levels measured at 16 locations in the city during election time showed consistent sound levels over 90 decibels even during night time. At Sreekariyam the peak noise levels rose to as much as 121.4 decibels at one point.
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