Legal Provisions and their Implementation
Noise pollution is becoming a global concern today. Every country is making rules and regulations to check noise pollution. In India also, various control measures have been initiated to control the noise pollution.
The Central Pollution Control Board constituted a Committee on Noise Pollution control. This committee recommended noise standards for ambient air, automobiles, domestic appliances and construction equipment. These standards as notified in Environment Protection Rules (1986), are given in Table 11.2.
Table 11.2 Noise Standards
| Code | DayTimeZdB | Night time/ dB | |
| A | Industrial Area | 75 | 70 |
| B | Commercial Area | 65 | 55 |
| C | Residential Area | 55 | 45 |
| D | Silence Zone | 50 | 40 |
The daytime is between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. whereas night time is 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The silence zone is referred to as area upto 100 meters around premises such as hospitals, educational institutions and courts. The silence zones are declared by the Competent Authority. Use of vehicular horns, loudspeakers and bursting of crackers is banned in these zones.
Mixed categories of areas should be declared as one of the above mentioned areas under the categories listed in Table 11.2 by the Competent Authority and for them the corresponding standards shall apply.
Noise standards for automobiles, domestic appliances and construction equipment have been notified in part ‘E’, schedule VI of Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986, as amended on 19th May 1993.
These are given in Tables 11.3 and 11.4.Table 11.3 Noise Limits for some types of Vehicles
| Category of Vehicle | Noise limit/ dB (A) |
| (a) Motorcycles, scooters and three wheelers | 80 |
| (b) Passenger cars | 82 |
| (c) Passenger or commercial vehicles upto 4 MT | 85 |
| (d) Passenger or commercial vehicles above 4 MT and up to 12 MT | 89 |
| (e) Passenger or commercial vehicles exceeding 12 MT | 90 |
Table 11.4 Noise Limits for Domestic Appliances and Construction Equipment
| Category OfDomestic Appliances∕Constπιction Equipment | Noise limit/ dB (A) |
| (a) Window air conditions of 1 tonne to 1.5 tonne | 68 |
| (b) Air coolers | 60 |
| (c) Refrigerators | 46 |
| (d) Diesel Generators for domestic purposes | 85-90 |
| (e) Compactors (rollers), Front Loaders, Cranes (movable), Concrete mixers, Vibrators and Saws | 75 |
Code of Practice for Controlling Noise from Sources other than Industries and Automobiles:
1. Public Address System
(i) License must be obtained by all parties intending to use loud speakers or public address system for any occasion. '
(ii) Public address system and loudspeakers should not be used at night between 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. except in closed premises.
(iii) Loudspeakers should be directed at the audience and not away from audience (i.e. not towards the neighborhoods).
(iv) Loudspeakers should not be allowed for advertisement and commercial activities.
(v) The permitted strength of power amplifier should be just adequate to cover the audience, and noise level beyond the boundary limit of the noise sources in the premises should not be increased by more than 5dB(A) above the ambient noise level.
2. AircraftOperations
(i) Aerodrome should be located away from the city and growth of the city
should not be allowed to extend upto the aerodrome.
(ii) Aeroplanes should takeoff in direction radially away from the city.
(iii) During boarding and unboarding operations, the plane should be sufficiently away from the airport buildings.
(iv) Night time operations should be minimized.
(v) During maintenance and repair of the aeroplanes, workers should use ear muffs.
(vi) Portable silencers should be used in the plane intake as well as exhaust during idling period at the airport.
3. ConstructionActivities
(i) Acoustic barriers should be placed near construction sites.
(ii) The maximum noise levels near the construction site should be limited to 75 dB (A) Leq (5 min) in industrial areas and to 65 dB (A) Leq(5 min) in other areas.
(iii) There should be fencing around construction site to prevent people coming
near the site.,
(iv) Materials need not be stockpiled and unused equipment should be placed between noisy operating equipments and other areas.
(v) Constructing temporary earth bund around the site using soil etc. which normally is hauled away from the construction site.
4. BurningofCrackers
(i) Manufacture and sale of crackers having an impulsive noise of more than 90 dB at 5 meters distance from the site of bursting should be banned.
(ii) Manufacture and bursting of joined crackers should be banned.
(iii) Bursting of crackers should be banned between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.
(iv) Bursting Ofcrackers may be permitted only during public festivals.
In the year 2004, the following two strict rules were introduced for Diwali:
(i) The crackers of more than 125 dB will be banned and
(ii) The crackers packets will contain decibel level printed on them.
Manufacturers of crackers in Sivakasi in Tamilnadu and other places were informed about these rules. The steps for the enforcement of these were undertaken. It was declared that the pollution levels would be monitored at 40 places in Delhi.
Recently, Patna High Court has also directed that all the four zones of Patna be made free from noise pollution.
At present, various notification and rules have been brought to control the noise pollution in the country. They are mentioned below:
(1) Ambient noise standards were notified in 1989 which formed the basis for the State Pollution Control Boards to initiate action against violating sources.
(2) The vehicular noise standards, notified in 1990 are being implemented by the Ministry of Science and Technology to reduce Traffic noise. These standards have been made more stringent vide a notification in September 2000 and will be effective from January 2003.
(3) Noise standards for diesel gensets were prescribed in December 1998. The Government has been pursuing the State Pollution Control Boards, generator manufactures and major users for implementation of these standards. These standards are being revised vide notification dated 30th December 2002 and are applicable at manufacturing stage from 2003. In this notification, noise limits for vehicles at manufacturing stage applicable from 1st April 2005 have also been stated.
(4) Noise standards for petrol and kerosene generator sets were notified in September 2000 and these are effective since September 2002. The sale of these gensets will be prohibited if not certified by testing agencies, identified for the purpose.
(5) The Noise Rules, 2000, regulate noise due to Public Address system/ Loud speakers and also prescribe procedures for noise complaint handling.
(6) The Central Pollution Control Board is studying aircraft noise at IGI airport Delhi. This will be followed by the development of guidelines/ standards for aircraft noise.
(7) The noise standards for fire crackers were enacted on 5th October 1999 and from time to time various notifications and steps are initiated to implement them.