Students’ decibel pressure

“The problem of cars, buses, and trucks honking unnecessarily in front of the school has been increasing every year. This despite the fact that areas around schools are supposed to be ‘No Horn’ zones,” said Biswajit Mitra, Principal of the Chetla Kailash Vidya Mandir, which is located in one of the most congested streets of the city.

“We have complained about the problem many times to the traffic police but not much has been done,” he added.

The problem of blaring horns has always been there in spite of the court’s intervention to check the city’s decibel level, but what the citizens are pointing to is the significant increase in sound pollution, as the number of vehicles plying on the city roads has gone up manifolds.

Mitra said that since his school is one of the worst affected by vehicular noise, some of its students in the past have been diagnosed with hearing problems.

Leave aside central and north Kolkata, where the density of traffic is comparatively higher, almost every part of the city is equally affected by this nuisance. “It is so difficult nowadays to walk on the streets with all the noise around. How can a student concentrate on the paper? He or she is sure to get distracted,” said Sumitra Ghosh, whose daughter is taking the Madhyamik examination at the Carmel Girls’ High School that is located near the busy junction of Prince Anwar Shah Road and Gariahat Road.

It is not only the students and their parents who are concerned about city drivers blaring their horns away. Some fellow drivers are perturbed about the same as well.

“I make a conscious effort not to use the horn but sometimes you cannot help it with so many rash drivers driving all around you,” said Kunal Halder, a banker who drives to work every morning. The authorities, however, claim that they have done their best to curb the level of noise pollution in the city, particularly during the exam time.

“We had meetings with all concerned people and asked local police stations to keep a vigil near the schools. Other measures that have been adopted include the imposition of Section 144 near the schools so that people do not gather in large numbers. We have also banned the use of loud speakers,” said Biswajit Mukherjee, law officer of the West Bengal Pollution Control Board.

“But some people just do not understand and act irresponsibly by honking when examinations are taking place nearby,” he added.

The traffic police, on the other hand, refuted that special measures have been taken to curb the noise pollution during the exam days.