Major culprits of this noise pollution identified by most road-users are drivers of cabs and share autorickshaws

Waiting at traffic signals in the city has become a source of intense annoyance for motorists because of the ear-piercing noises emitted by vehicles’ horns.

M.R. Mukundan, who commutes on a two-wheeler, rues the lack of patience of other motorists who, without any rhyme or reason, sound the horn, making it unbearable for others.

The major culprits of this noise pollution identified by most road-users are the drivers of cabs and share autorickshaws. The Chennai traffic police, on March 16 last year, organised ‘No Horn Day’ to create awareness about this growing menace and collected Rs. 1.60 lakh in penalties. But the initiative seems to have lost steam with the traffic police remaining mute this year.

A senior police officer said that a special drive, similar to ‘No Honking Day’, was needed to create awareness and enforce self-discipline among motorists. He said, currently, the major concern of the police was prevention of road accidents. He emphasised that welfare associations and non-governmental organisations would have to come forward and help create awareness about noise pollution.

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Though there have not been any serious incidents of bird hits so far at Chennai airport that does not mean the problem does not exist.

There have been several instances of flights getting delayed because of the problem, said airport sources.

There should not be garbage dumping yards or slaughter houses within a 10-km radius of any airport as it attracts birds. However, owing to the mushrooming of meat and fish stalls in the vicinity of the city airport, incidents of bird strikes have been on the rise, said an official of Airports Authority of India (AAI).

“Most of these stalls don’t have a proper garbage disposal system and this attracts a lot of birds. Not just that, the vegetation in and around the airport should also be monitored and controlled,” he added.

On an average, at least five such incidents occur at the airport every year, according to officials of AAI. But the directorate general of civil aviation, sometime back, noted that “such incidents are much more as many incidents go unreported”.

Since the pattern of bird strikes changes once in five to six years, it would be ideal to commission a study soon and look at possible ways to curb this problem, the official added.