A signboard indicating that honking in hospital areas is a punishable offense. Photo: Sadiqur Rahman
Signboards indicating that honking in hospital areas is a punishable offense are placed at several points near BSMMU and BIRDEM General Hospital—two of Dhaka's major health centers in the Shahbag area.
Nevertheless, the Shahbag intersections within a 100-meter radius of these hospitals remain cacophonous with the sounds of vehicle horns.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Md Abul Kalam Azad recently expressed his frustration, noting that physicians and patients at BSMMU, as well as their neighbors at BIRDEM, endure constant noise pollution throughout most of the day.
‘The post-operative patients suffer the most,’ Kalam told New Age. ‘They cannot get the restful sleep essential for their recovery.’
Assistant Commissioner Sarwar Hossain of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, responsible for traffic management in the Ramna Zone, attributed the noise pollution to drivers of public and private vehicles, over 80% of whom regularly pass through the Shahbag area.
‘Despite being aware of the hospitals, they honk unnecessarily,’ he said.
Several drivers of motorised vehicles shared their views with this correspondent, complaining that public buses frequently pick up and drop off passengers at unauthorised stops, obstructing their path.
Rafiqul Islam, a private car driver, explained, ‘We often feel compelled to honk if slow-moving or non-motorized vehicles like rickshaws, as well as lane-switching motorcyclists, appear in front of us.’
Bus drivers have said that for Motijheel-Gulistan bound buses the designated bus stoppage at Shahbagh is near the tennis complex where passengers are hardly available.
‘We don’t find passengers there. They all gather at the Shahbagh crossing. That’s why we make this place a common stoppage,’ said Atiq, a driver of a Mirpur-Gulistan route bus.
According to the Directorate General of Health Services, the capital city Dhaka is home to eight tertiary-level hospitals, 17 specialized public hospitals, and more than 600 registered private hospitals.
Additionally, Dhaka city has nine public universities, 62 private universities, around 500 primary, secondary, and higher secondary educational institutions, as well as numerous kindergartens, according to the University Grants Commission and the Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics.
Section 2(J) of the Sound Pollution Control Rules 2006 designates hospitals, educational institutions, and office areas as ‘silent zones’ and prohibits honking within a 100-meter radius of these areas.
According to the rules, the permissible sound limits for silent zones are 50 decibels (dB) during the day and 40 dB at night.
A 2022 survey by the Center for Atmospheric Pollution Studies (CAPS) found that the so-called ‘silent zones’ were significantly noisier than other areas.
CAPS Director Professor Ahmad Kamruzzaman Majumder, a faculty member in the Department of Environmental Science at Stamford University Bangladesh, noted that in many areas with hospitals and educational institutions in Dhaka, the team recorded ambient noise levels of 75–85 dB.
‘The situation remains unchanged. As usual, indiscipline traffic movement is the major factor behind vehicular noise,’ Kamruzzaman told New Age recently.
Section 4 of the sound pollution control rules also prohibits honking in ‘silent zones’ designated by local government authorities.
As per Section 4, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) declared a 1.5 km radius around Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport a 'silent zone,' effective from October 1.
On the same day, Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan formally announced the initiative, adding that a Tk500 fine would be imposed for violating this specific silent zone.
A visit by the New Age reporter, however, found the airport area on October 17 full of chaotic noise from the traffic and horns as usual.
Some relevant government officials, preferring anonymity, admitted that drivers were not much cooperating with the anti-honking rules.
The sound pollution control rules authorize fines of up to Tk5,000 or up to 1 month of imprisonment, or both, for rule violations. Repeat offenders face fines of up to Tk10,000 or up to 6 months of imprisonment, or both, according to Section 18 of the rules.
DNCC Public Relations Officer Mukbul Hossain said on Thursday that the city corporation is currently prioritizing awareness campaigns over penalizing violators.
'We will begin imposing fines as soon as we receive instructions from senior officials,' he stated.
Mukbul added that the Department of Environment (DoE), Civil Aviation Authority, and Roads and Highways are also involved in the silent zone campaigns around the airport road.
Speaking to New Age, the DoE Director (Monitoring and Enforcement) noted that several mobile courts had been deployed on the airport road but declined to provide further details.
Syeda Rizwana Hasan said that the authorities were monitoring the outcomes of the airport road initiative.
Citing that the Road Transport Act 2018 only prohibits use of ‘sound-signals’ or honking in ‘silent zones’ but does not specify punishment, she said, ‘The government is planning to amend this law.’
She believed that a continuous awareness campaign among drivers for 12-18 months would help curb noise pollution from the Dhaka road.
‘We will engage students in this campaign from December,’ Rizwana said.
* New Age published a slightly edited version. Link: https://www.newagebd.net/post/country/249798/dhakas-silent-zones-still-noisy#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20rules%2C%20the,other%20areas%20in%20the%20capital.
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