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The state pollution control board will have to measure the sound pollution caused by trams
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The high court on Thursday asked the pollution control board to measure the sound pollution caused by trams during the day and at night and file a report within 15 days.
The division bench of Chief Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Joymalya Bagchi also asked the government to stop the use of air horns across the state within six weeks.
The court directed the board to measure the sound pollution caused by trams running on tracks laid on asphalt and concrete separately.
The enumerators will have to categorise the findings according to speed and state separately the pollution caused by the engine and the body of a tram.
The order came during the hearing of a case on air pollution in the city at night. Environment activist Subhas Datta, who had filed the case in 2007, submitted that the level of air pollution in the city at night was much higher than the daytime figure.
“Heavy vehicles like lorries and Matadors are allowed in the city at night. That’s the reason for the spurt in air pollution at night,” Datta had earlier submitted.
When the case came up for hearing last week, the court pointed out that sound pollution, too, was high in the city at night and asked the pollution control board to file a report on it.
The board’s report filed on Thursday reiterated the court’s observation.
Datta pointed out during the proceedings that trams, which ply between 4.30am and 12.30am, were contributing to sound pollution in the city.
Another source of sound pollution, especially on the city outskirts and districts, is air horns, Datta pointed out. The bench then issued the order on measuring sound pollution caused by trams and stopping the use of air horns.
Fire
A fire broke out in a ground- floor flat of a three-storey building in Debendra Mullick Lane in north Calcutta on Thursday afternoon. Two fire tenders were able to control the flames in 15 minutes.
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