Daily Times

Once known as a City of Flowers, Peshawar is currently confronted with a monster problem of traffic pressure horns, which started unnerving the people.

Exposed to massive traffic jams almost every day, especially during peak hours in the morning and evening, Peshawarties are subjected to various health, mental, and psychological health hazards due to unnecessary pressure horns of buses, buses, wagons, a tsunami of rickshaws and other vehicular traffic that continued to people’s headache.

Despite many complaints were made and rules framed; however, the implementation against pressure horns’ laws has been declared unsatisfactory in KP. “No doubt, pressure horns are a social course. On Sunday last, I visited Peshawar where a truck’s loud pressure horns affected my hearing structure and faced pains” said Kamal Khan, a resident of Nowshera while talking to APP.

The irritating and doubled hearing pains forced me to visit an ENT specialist for treatment, said Kamal, and questioned that who was responsible for his suffering without naming the PTI Government.

ENT specialist and former professor of Khyber Medical College Peshawar, Dr Fazal Sattar said that using a pressure horn for an extended period can lead to hearing loss, as the loud noise can damage the delicate structures of the ear.

Additionally, he said that such horns can be jarring and may cause physical discomfort to its victims due to sudden loud noise. Causing an extreme stress and anxiety in people exposed to it for extended periods of time especially traffic police, vendors shopkeepers, and drivers, he said that in some cases, air horns can even be dangerous and cause accidents while driving or operating machinery.

Dr Sattar said many medical investigations conducted by experts at local and international levels have proved that noise pollution can cause physiological-stress reactions such as high blood pressure besides increasing heart rate, speech, and sleep disturbance.

Besides hearing loss, he said that noise pollution could also cause cardiovascular problems associated with accelerated heartbeat, gastric intestinal, decrease in alertness and ability to memorize, and long-lasting effects such as insomnia, nervousness, bulimia, chronically high blood pressure, anxiety, and depression.

In recent years, the noise pressure levels in all major cities including Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, and Rawalpindi have risen exponentially as unplanned and unmanaged urbanization continued to swell the urban sprawl.

Except for some posh townships, it is difficult to differentiate between a residential and commercial locality, offices, shopping plazas, and auto-repair workshops surround even schools, universities, and hospitals which should always be protected from noise pollution.

Ear-splitting noise from unmuffled motorbikes, auto rickshaws and public transport is very harmful in more than one way which are causing ears impairment.

He said the excessive noise leads to psychological effects, and changes in the social behaviour of its victims by interfering with daily routines.

In developed countries like Pakistan, he said municipal authoritarians needs to strictly enforce environmental laws and regulations to protect people especially schoolchildren and patients in hospitals from all sources of noises.

To address this growing menace, the authorities needs to adopt a comprehensive and consistent policy approach for the management of noise pollution which combines the principles of precaution, prevention, and heavy fines against polluters.

Environment and health authorities also underscored the need to collaborate with the civic administration to monitor noise levels, compile data on sources and effects of noise pollution and raise public awareness through the electronic and social media.

Environmental Protection Agencies (EPAs) in all provinces and local governments must take steps through the strict enforcement of regulations and laws to hold noise polluters accountable.

Dr. Zilat Malik, former Chairman of the Economics Department, University of Peshawar claimed that by 2050, about 68pc of the global population will be living in cities and that all cities of Pakistan with nearly two percent population growth rate would face environmental hazards due to rapid urbanisation and that noise pollution could contribute to a public health crisis.

Environmental Protection Agency KP official told APP that over 120 million people are estimated to have disabling hearing globally due to noise pollution.

Exercising power under the Pakistan Environmental Protection Ordinance 1983, he said that National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) have been established for monitoring motor vehicle exhaust and controlling noise pollution.

As per NEQS, he said that motor vehicle noise has been allowed a maximum 85 dB (A) sound emission for vehicles at a distance of 7.5 meters from the source without specifying the type of motor vehicle and measuring-technique.

EPA KP has launched a campaign against noise pollution and pressure horns by public and private vehicles in the province.

Moreover, rickshaws were booked for spreading noise pollution. The experts suggested establishment of green belts and plants that help serve the dual purpose of filtering dirty air and absorbing noise in big cities of Pakistan. They also underscored the need of education of people through special campaign against noise pollution through social media to combat this social mess.