Ranchi, June 15: Picture this: it’s 9.30 in the morning, you are in a hurry to get to work, the temperature is a scorching 42 degrees Celsius, all around you is a deafening cacophony of sounds, including the approaching wails of a siren signalling a VIP is on his way. And then you hear the horn: it’s loud, it hurts the senses and it’s unlike any other. It’s the mantri horn.

Use of high-decibel pressure horns in vehicles, the majority of them the red-beacon flashing cars of ministers and bureaucrats (thus the name), in the capital is adding to the increasing noise pollution.

The Union ministry of environment and forests has banned pressure horns. Flouting of this rule calls for punishment of a fine of Rs 1 lakh or imprisonment up to five years or both. A random survey by The Telegraph revealed that most ministers, secretaries, commissioners, senior police officials and second-rung officers use pressure horns in their vehicles.

Private motorists, too, are no exception. Asked if they knew that using pressure horns in the vehicles meant violation of the environment protection acts, most of them expressed ignorance about the existence of any such law. A survey of car-accessory outlets in Ranchi revealed that while private owners also get the pressure horns fitted, it’s the vehicles of mantris and babus, primarily the white Ambassadors, which are regular customers.

The Noise Pollution (Regulation & Control) Rules 2000 stipulates that the sound of horns in 400 to 1,200 cc vehicles should not exceed 89 decibels. “But vehicles fitted with a pressure horn produces noise above 120 decibels, in violation of these rules,” said an official of the Jharkhand Pollution Control Board. Not just pressure horns, anything that produces noise above 89 decibels cannot be fitted in cars.

Speaking of health hazards posed by constant exposure to high-decibel horns, pollution board sources said: “Sudden exposure to pressure horns causes mental irritation and affects the hearing capacity of a person. However, constant exposure may cause permanent deafness and heart disease and blood pressure. Besides, first time exposure up to 15 seconds may severely damage one’s hearing capability. In case of newborns, the exposure could be near fatal.”

Asked about the steps that need to be taken to check the menace of rising horn decibel, those responsible for cracking the whip on these erring vehicles maintained a studied silence. Ranchi senior superintendent of police M.V. Rao said: “We will procure a copy of these rules and contemplate what we can do to check the menace.”

A senior administration official whose car is fitted with a pressure horn expressed ignorance about the law but, at the same time, sought to pass the buck to the people. “I did not know that these horns were banned. But what can do we, commuters on the roads not don’t respond to our normal horns. They have forced us to fit this device in our vehicles,” said the officer who did not wish to be named.