J-K to develop state-wide strategy on noise pollution

The Jammu and Kashmir administration will develop a state-wide strategy to control noise pollution, as exposure to high-levels of sound results in significant adverse health impacts, an official said.

The initiative is a part of the Jammu and Kashmir Environment policy 2018 draft, which has now been put into public domain inviting suggestions from the public.

The policy stated that the government will develop the state-wide strategy to strengthen the capacity and infrastructure to monitor, enforce and regulate noise pollution.

It will also encourage to control community noise through various steps such as awareness programmes through electronic and print media.

The policy will regulate measures on celebration at community-level and undertake training of personnel from regulatory agencies, notification will also be issued to source specific standards for generator sets, automobiles and to firecracker industries to indicate noise levels through colour-coding on each of their packet for people to make a choice at the time of buying.

A database will be built for ambient noise levels and a survey will be conducted for festival season under the policy.

As per the policy, exposure to high-levels of noise can result in significant adverse health impacts, annoyance, physiological effects, nervous system damage and the could also lead to hearing loss, it said.

It further said that commercial transportation and social activities within or close to residential areas is also an important category.