NGOs, cops finalise plans for No Horn Day …Radha Rajadhyaksha I TNN
Mumbai: If you’ve forgotten what silence sounds like in this perennially cacophonous city, look forward to April 7, which has officially been declared No Horn Day by the Mumbai traffic police. Antinoise pollution and civic activists, who met DCP, traffic, Harish Baijal for an interactive session last week, are now firming up their plans to make the day a success.
Baijal has been working on the initiative for some time now: apart from speaking to taxi and rickshaw unions and commissioning posters, banners and vehicle stickers reiterating the No Honking message, he has sought the support of celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan and Adnan Sami and stand-up comedians like Raju Shrivastav.
“They have promised to back the cause,’’ he says, adding smilingly, “Unless we make some noise about No Horn Day, nothing will happen.’’
The 30 to 40 NGOs, which were present at the meeting, will play an active part in the exercise. Each NGO has promised to get at least 20 volunteers, who, even before April 7, will be out on the streets distributing stickers and talking to motorists about the need to use the car horn very sparingly, if at all. The NGOs are hoping to rope school and college students and churches into the exercise of spreading awareness.
On April 7, the traffic police will take over, though the volunteers will assist them even on that day, says Sumaira Abdulali, convener of Awaaz Foundation which initiated the meeting with the DCP. “Enforcement is very much a part of the initiative,’’ she says. “The police will fine those who honk unnecessarily. We will be there to spread awareness. Motorists may or may not respond to our message but since we will be doing it through the constables on duty that day, the latter will be sensitised to the need to do this regularly. Given that traffic constables are among those who suffer the most on account of traffic noise pollution, it is actually in their own interest to do so.’’
Going by Baijal’s account, the traffic police have already caught on. “An inspector from Kalbadevi, who had registered only 17 or 18 cases of honking over the last year, registered 20 to 25 cases of reverse horns alone in a couple of days after the plan for No Horn Day was launched,’’ he says. The DCP promises that the controlling
of noise will not end with April 7, and that a dedicated phone line and a section of the traffic police website will be pressed into use for traffic noise complaints alone.
of noise will not end with April 7, and that a dedicated phone line and a section of the traffic police website will be pressed into use for traffic noise complaints alone.
Activists and participants at the meeting, however, felt this was not enough. “Human beings are the same everywhere—they have the same tendencies, to speed, honk unnecessarily and so on,’’ pointed out a participant at the meeting. “Then why are they better behaved abroad? Because the fines are so prohibitive that no one dare misbehave. We need to have very stiff penalties here as well.’’ Added another participant, “The rules against drinking and driving and on wearing helmets have been implemented very strictly by the police. Then why not this?’’
While Baijal pleaded helplessness on account of a shortage of staff (“We have only 1,600 policemen and end up with only 800 throughout the city’’), he pointed out that there were several existing measures such as a ban on reverse and shrill horns which people could complain about through the police website (www.trafficpolicemumbai.org). When a volunteer suggested that housing societies could send emails to the police about offenders, the DCP agreed. “I would say we should compile the data areawise,’’ he said. “My biggest handicap is that there is no data available. Once there is data pointing to the severity of traffic noise pollution, we can increase the fine.’’
radha.rajadhyaksha@timesgroup.com
radha.rajadhyaksha@timesgroup.com