Don’t make any noise after 10pm

What is night? A simple existential question nobody thought was worth losing sleep over. Now, the government has the burnt the midnight oil to define ‘night’ as between 10pm and 6am.

Putting a cap on the noisy wrangling over the duration of night time, the government has recently amended the country's noise rules, disallowing the use of musical instruments, construction equipment, crackers and loudspeakers during that time.

“For the first time we have defined night time and we have also restricted use of construction equipment and musical instruments,” said environment minister Jairam Ramesh. This should come as a big relief to people living in noisy residential areas. “People are having a disturbed sleep which is the main cause for growing cases of insomnia and depression,” experts in the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) said.

The result, however, may take some time to seep in. “This is just a small step, I am not saying that our cities will be quiet all of a sudden,” Ramesh said. The key areas to work on were residential colonies and sensitive zones like schools and hospitals, he added. He also announced the infrastructure facilities that the government is planning in the next five years to bring down noise pollution.

The government has promised tough measures against noise polluters. Now, the local police can take action against offenders without waiting for a complaint.

According to a study conducted by the CPCB, in most of the metros, the noise level is 20-25% more than the 55 decibels permitted in residential areas. A pilot project in Delhi suggests that, on an average, the decibel levels in Delhi is 66-70 decibels while it is worse in Kolkata, where it is between 69-76 decibels.       
The ministry of environment and forests has selected seven cities—Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Lucknow—each of which would have 10 stations by September 2010 where noise levels would be recorded.

“This is the first time that monitoring would be made on the noise levels in India,” said the minister. Apart from these cities, the ministry has also included names of another 18 cities, mainly state capitals, where stations would be made to record noise levels.