Sandeep Yadav
Tribune News ServiceNew Delhi, December 31
With unnecessary honking becoming a habit rather than a necessity among people, an NGO in collaboration with the Delhi traffic police has come forward to observe January 1 as a ‘No Honking Day’ in the national capital.
The move, a brainchild of Earth Savours Foundation (NGO), is being welcomed by the city residents, who believe driving amidst a little less noise on the choked roads of Delhi could indeed turn out to be a slightly pleasant experience.
“Noise pollution has very detrimental effects on human beings, which can be subjective, behavioural and physiological, and there is an imperative need to eradicate it,” says a psychologist working with Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.
With more than 56 lakh vehicles already in the national capital and about 10 lakh coming in every day from satellite towns, the amount of decibel being generated is anybody’s guess.
The capital is already abuzz with “No Honking Day” posters and banners on main traffic points and the traffic police would crack down on those who unnecessarily blaze horns. “Strict implementation of the rule will be observed. It will be wise not to blow horn out of habit as
challan will not be the right way to start a New Year,” traffic officials involved in the campaign said.
Notably, the Delhi traffic police has already declared courts, hospitals, educational institutions and some residential localities as “Silence Zones” under the provisions of Delhi Police Act, 1978. It has also prohibited blowing of horns at all signalised junctions/intersections within a distance of 100 metres of each approaching arm of the road, for 24 hours of the day, except under emergency/urgent situations where blowing of horn is warranted.
According to Ravi Kalra, the founder president of Earth Savours Foundation, besides creating noise pollution, unnecessary honking leads to problems like stress, high blood pressure and hypertension. He said that the campaign would not end on January 1, but continue till the society imbibed the habit and graduate "from no honking to never honking".
“In any civilised country people will give your vehicle a pass if it honks on the road, believing you have an emergency to attend to. No wonder, foreigners are left aghast at the lack of civic sense among our people and their tendency to blow horns unnecessarily,” he said.
