Night life ban sought to check noise levels

 Under fire from the High Court of Karnataka over increasing noise pollution, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) has written to the City police to ban nightlife from 10 pm to 1 am.

The KSPCB has written to the police commissioner seeking a ban on nightlife after a recent study conducted by the board showed that noise levels on Church Street in the heart of the City, known for its pubs, were equal to and, sometimes, higher than that in Peenya Industrial Area.

Furthermore, the KSPCB has also written to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike and Bangalore Development Authority to ensure that commercial spaces do not come up in residential areas and noise level in such places remains zero between 10 pm and 6 am.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, KSPCB Chairman Vaman Acharya said that around 86 per cent of the noise pollution is from civil society and only 14 per cent from industries. 

“Many complaints of noise pollution have been coming from ‘mixed areas’ and residential areas. We have observed that this is primarily because of bars, hotels, vehicle movements, honking and lack of parking space,” he said. 

“To regulate this, we have taken these harsh steps and written to all officials. We have also issued orders to provide noise metres to traffic police,” he said.
“With the help of these instruments, they can detect noise levels and penalise offenders. The penalty amount has also been increased from Rs 100 to Rs 1,000. Officers will also be stationed at parking slots to measure horn volume and confiscate them in case of violation,” he added.

The KSPCB conducted the study from January to July and studied noise levels across  TM Layout, Marathahalli Commercial Area, Nisarga Bhavan (S G Residential Area), Parisara Bhavan (Church Street) and Peenya Industrial Area. It was found that the average maximum and minimum noise levels in BTM Layout had touched up to 66.9 decibels in the day and 65.7 decibels at night. 

The monitoring station at Parisara Bhavan on Church Street showed that maximum noise levels during the day and night time went up to 66.9 and 66.2 decibels, respectively. The permissible level in the area during day and night is 65 and 55 decibels, respectively. 

In Marathahalli Commercial area, the decibel level during the day was 63.6, below the permissible 65 decibels. But at night, it was 66.6 decibels, against the permissible 55 decibels. At Nisarga Bhavan in SG Halli Residential Area, permissible level during day and night is 55 and 45 decibels, respectively, but the noise level during day and night was 60.4 and 55.6 decibels.  

The KSPCB chairman said the Transport Department had been urged to confiscate shrill horns from markets. Civic agencies had recently issued orders to convert 20 to 30 per cent of residential buildings to commercial spaces.