Noise pollution at number two in environment-related offences: NCRB

New Delhi: Of the 61,767 environment related offences registered in 2020, the noise pollution related offences (7,318) remained on the second spot under the category at all India level and also for many states, the data from the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has shown.

The cigarettes and tobacco related cases remained on top in the category.

However, Delhi is among the 15 states and eight Union Territories that have registered zero offences under the Noise Pollution Acts (central/states), the NCRB data showed.

Maximum of 7,186 offences were registered in Rajasthan, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 44 cases.

The remaining offences were reported from Tamil Nadu (19), Haryana (15), Punjab (15), Kerala (11), Himachal Pradesh (7), Karnataka (6), Uttar Pradesh (6), Chhattisgarh (2), Gujarat (2), Maharashtra (2), West Bengal (2) and Bihar (1).

The 14 states that had zero offences are Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Goa, Delhi, Jharkhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand ; while the UTs are Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Lakshadweep and Pudducherry.

A 2020 report from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had shown that Chennai was the noisiest city among the six metro cities even as noise levels were pretty high in other metros too.

However, data from the NCRB shows, not much is being done vis-a-vis noise pollution in the states where these metros belong.