Honking in the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) area in the capital continues unabated even 10 days after the airport area stretching three kilometers was declared as ‘Silent Zone.’
The permissible sound level is 50 decibel (dB) at daytime and 40dB at night time, but the ‘Silent Zone’ in the airport area is witnessing 80-100dB of the sound level every day since October 1.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change declared the airport area--- from Scholastica School to Hotel La Meridian---- as ‘Silent Zone’ as per the ‘Sound Pollution Control Rules, 2006’.
But city people are yet to get respite from honking in the ‘Silent Zone’ as the situation remains as before. Not a single vehicle is passing the designated area without honking.
The government has a plan to gradually expand the initiative to different parts of the capital city of Dhaka and then bring the whole city and other divisional cities under this programme.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB), Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and the Department of Environment (DoE) are mainly responsible for enforcing the government decision to free the designated area from noise pollution. The Roads and Highways Department (RHD) and the Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association have also the responsibility in this regard.
During visit to the airport area, it was seen that signage indicating the ‘Silent Zone’ is spotted at various locations--- in front of Hotel La Meridian and Scholastica School point at Uttara.
No drivers was seen following the government’s decision. The vehicles plying the road in designated area, especially buses and motorcycles, continued to honk unnecessarily.
Lack of monitoring in the area was also observed during the visit. Drivers are honking for no reason. Many people expressed dissatisfaction as there is no improvement in reducing the sound level.
“I heard that the government has declared this area as Silent Zone. It shows no signs of being effective. I’m living in Uttara area for a long time. I’m still as annoyed with excessive sound levels produced by vehicles. The situation remains the same it was before October 1,” said Md Abdul Mozid, a resident from city’s Uttara area.
Talking to the Bangladesh Post on Thursday, he said that without strict law enforcement, this initiative cannot succeed.
An official of the Department of Environment (DoE) admitted that honking has not decreased, and drivers continue to use their horns excessively at will.
Earlier in 2019, the streets surrounding Bangladesh Secretariat in the capital and 11 other areas in the country were designated as silent zones. However, no silent zones were effectively enforced.
A study carried out by the Center for Atmospheric Pollution Studies (CAPS) found that Bangladesh Secretariat area have the highest noise pollution levelsin Dhaka some days after declaration of the silent zone.
Now the Dhaka airport area is one of the areas where highest noise pollution levels are observed.
Professor Dr Ahmad Kamruzzaman, chairman of CAPS and head of the Environmental Science department at Stamford University, said the government should take necessary steps to ensure that the airport area is truly a ‘Silent Zone’.
He stressed the need for awareness among drivers, vehicle owners and people to prevent noise pollution. "If we can stop honking, we will be able to reduce 60 per cent of sound pollution in the city,” Dr Kamruzzaman added.
He, however, said the weak legal framework stands in the way of preventing noise pollution.
About the present situation of sound level at ‘Silent Zone’ in Dhaka, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, adviser to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; told the Bangladesh Post, “Our primary task is to create public awareness. Since drivers of the country don’t know that honking is a punishable offence, we are trying to carry out awareness programme with transport owners and drivers. We do not believe that the place, which has not been quiet in 53 years, will be quiet in two weeks. However, we will continue campaign and drive against sound pollution.”
However, many believe that loopholes in laws and regulations related to sound pollution control act as main villain.
Sound Pollution (Control) Rules, 2006; Environment Conservation Rules, 1997; Road Transport Act, 2018 and Dhaka Metropolitan Police Ordinance, 1976 cover the traffic horns and honking issue as well as the sound pollution. No provision has been made in the laws and Rules for the immediate enforceent of the law or for taking measures to control illegal honking of traffic horns.
Talking to this correspondent, Advocate Syed Mahbubul Alam Tahin, a public health and environment policy expert and secretary of the Center for Law and Policy Affairs (CLPA), pointed out some lacks of the related laws and regulations.
“Despite different laws and rules to control the sound pollution, their enforcement is not noticed as desired in Dhaka city. The laws and rules can’t play an effective role to control the alarming level of sound pollution,” he said.
He said that traffic horn control in Dhaka city is not possible with mobile court or regular court, as the mobile court can only try crimes committed in its presence. Provision should be made to control traffic horn by immediate measures. Police and other concerned should be empowered to impose and collect fines, he suggested.
Talking about giving the police the power to punish through the amendment to the law, Syeda Rizwana Hasan told the Daily Bangladesh Post if the power is given to the police as police remain on the streets, the tendency of honking will decrease.
As per the Sound Pollution Control Rules, 2006, silent zones are areas where the decibel level is to be kept under 50 dB during day-time and 40 dB during night-time.
Accordng to the Rules, the residential areas should not exceed 45 decibels from 9:00 pm to 6:00 am and 55 decibels during the day. In commercial areas, these limits are set at 60 and 70 decibels respectively. Areas surrounding schools, hospitals, and places of worship are designated as silent zones up to 100 meters, with specific noise level restrictions.
Violations may result in up to one month of imprisonment or fines of up to Tk. 5,000 for first offenses, and for subsequent offenses, six months of imprisonment or fines of up to Tk.10,000.
The average sound level in Dhaka city is double the tolerable limit set by global health standards. The average noise frequency in the city is currently over 100dB, which is twice the tolerable standard.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), sound above 60dB can cause temporary deafness and sound above 100 decibels can cause permanent deafness.
