It is necessary to work on educating the public about the danger of noise pollution and the law before standards can be enforced, she said
Published : 12 Oct 2023, 03:22 PM
The noise pollution in Dhaka has reached such a level that if the laws were enforced, every resident of the capital would be in jail, says Farhina Ahmed, secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
To raise awareness of the need to protect from noise pollution, the government will observe a ‘minute of silence’ at 10 am on Oct 15, she said at a press conference at the ministry on Thursday.
It is not enough for individuals to be aware of the issue and take action, but instead everyone needs to know and understand the law equally, the secretary said in response to a question. Those who use Dhaka’s roads are not yet properly aware of the situation, which is why the government is attempting to enforce it and issue fines.
However, mobile courts are not being used because they may lead to more congestion, she said.
“If we were to deploy mobile courts at every road to ensure that the area around the Secretariat is peaceful, it will cause major traffic issues across Dhaka. As a result, in light of the reality of the situation, we can’t pursue enforcement. That’s why we are trying to reach out to the people to ensure that they know the law and what the limits are.”
Despite the ban on hydraulic horn imports, they are still contributing to noise pollution in Dhaka.
The government is working on the issue and seizing these horns, Farhina said. The ministry is working alongside the NBR to investigate how these banned products enter the country, seize them from stores and halt their production.
The government’s efforts on this front are ongoing, she said.
“As government workers and citizens, we want our country to be as pleasant and free of noise pollution as possible. But, if we start to enforce existing regulations in an effort to tamp down on the situation, our jails will be stuffed full as everybody violates the law.”
She pointed to the room in which the press conference was taking place, saying that the noise level there exceeded the noise pollution standard.
If we have to enforce that standard, the entire country would have to become a prison, the secretary said.
“The government has to enforce the law, citizens have to follow it, and stakeholders have to follow it too. When all sides settle for one position, there will be compliance,” she said.
The environment secretary noted that the government had taken several initiatives to ensure that vehicles servicing the public sector do not use horns unnecessarily, but that magistrates would enforce the law if they did.
The law states that the sound level in quiet areas during the day (6 am to 9 pm) must be below 50 decibels, and below 40 decibels at night (from 9 pm to 6 am). However, research has shown that the noise level in the Secretariat area does not dip below 124 decibels in the day.