Kolkata: The West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) has decided to include noise management in its district-level Environmental Management Plan. As a start, the board has decided to come up with noise monitoring stations in all the major towns in the State.
This was announced at a recent programme organised by the WBPCB. According to the WBPCB Chairman, Kolkata is the only city in the country which has noise monitoring facilities at ten places, and now, similar facilities were being extended to all the big towns.
Fifty-eight sound-monitoring instruments are being distributed across the State. Display boards will also be set up in the towns where the noise levels from different parts of a town will be put up.
Another initiative taken by the WBPCB is introducing portable sound-level-measuring instruments for the police to check decibels on the spot. These small but sensitive instruments, called sound-level limiters, cost Rs 55,000 each. Police Commissionerates were handed over 225 of these instruments at the programme.
Each of the designated police stations, chosen on the basis of the noise level in their areas, will be given two of these.Each instrument is capable of measuring sound levels from 40 to 130 decibels.
They are equipped with GPS, to keep track of sound levels in different areas, and printers, to enable the police to issue receipts for spot fines.
During the Kali Puja earlier this year, the WBPCB had distributed sound-level limiters to over 500 police stations in the State.The officials of WBPCB will also organise training sessions for the recipients of the machines.
The agency is responsible for monitoring two types of noises - impulse noise, that measures the noise of sound crackers or similar things from a distance of four metres, with the permissible limit being less than 90 decibels, and ambient noise, that we feel continuously due to the honking of vehicles.(UNI)