The warning against decibel demons has been sounded loud and clear.

Acting on the directives of Jamshedpur city SP Karthik S., deputy superintendent of police (traffic) R.M. Sinha on Tuesday issued a directive to Shikshit Berozgar Mini Bus Association, an outfit representing private bus operators in the steel city, to remove pressure horns from all vehicles immediately.

Offenders, if caught during surprise check that will start later this week, will have to cough up Rs 1,000 as fine.

Notably, use of pressure horn is a violation of clause II of Section 190 of the Motor Vehicles Act (1988).

“In keeping with the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, we have decided to levy a fine of Rs 1,000 each on the offenders. We will also remove the pressure horns from the vehicles. If they again use pressure horns, the fine will double up to Rs 2,000,” said traffic DSP Sinha.

The directive says that the level of noise pollution on city roads has increased manifold due to blowing of pressure horns by private buses.

“We have received complaints from residents against unnecessary blowing of pressure horns that creates a lot of noise, disturbs pedestrians and at times leads to minor mishaps,” said Sinha, adding that surprise inspections would be carried out simultaneously from five traffic police stations of Golmuri, Jugsalai, Bistupur, Sakchi and Mango.

To make matters little easy for police, the traffic department already has a database of private buses. Thus once an offender is fined for using pressure horns, the database will come handy to find out if the offence is repeated for the second time.

Around 125 private buses, known as mini-buses, ply along 14 routes across the steel city and ferry more than 100,000 passengers daily after leaving from Sakchi private bus terminus.

R.N. Choudhary, regional officer of Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board, said that pressure horns were one of the major reasons behind the rise in decibel level in commercial and residential areas during non-festive seasons.

“In Jamshedpur, the decibel level in commercial and residential areas is at least 15-25 level higher than the range stipulated by the Central Pollution Control Board,” said Choudhary.

According to pollution norms, the decibel limit for residential areas is 60dB and for commercial areas 70dB.