| Pressure horns used rampantly, authorities fail to enforce ban | | | Neeraj Badyal
Early Times Report
Samba, Jan 18: Pressure horns that emit ear-piercing sounds are the cool, trendy way to make their presence heard on roads. Never mind that both the Supreme Court and Motor Vehicles Act (1988) have banned their use as the noise is extremely harmful to health.
The use of hooters and pressure horns is rampant in Samba and no one-vehicle operators and authorities including Samba district administration, traffic police and J&K State Pollution Control Board-gives a hoot. In blatant violation of Motor Vehicles Act and Supreme Court guidelines, prohibiting use of pressure horns in vehicles; same are being used by maximum of buses plying on several arterial routes. The buses plying on Jammu-Kathua route which runs through the jurisdiction of Regional Transport Officer (RTO) Samba and Kathua have been a case in the point. The RTOs have so far failed to control the menace of noise pollution caused by Pressure horns in vehicles.
"The use of pressure horns can cause severe headache, high blood pressure and hearing problems", a doctor Bharat Bhushan, said, adding that the use of horn was only to give a signal to other vehicle owners, but bus operators use the horn, like rattle of a toy.
A commuter, who daily travels to Jammu from Samba, says that several nakas of police and traffic police were in the route but these enforcement agencies have turned a blind eye to this violation of norms. "Each hour nearly 50-60 private buses pass from Samba bus stand. It is very easily to find the vehicle operators using pressure horns as all the bus operators use horns, whenever they reached any stop and constantly use it till the other bus left the bus stop, leaving fellow commuters reeling," said Ankit Sharma, local resident.
Assistant Regional Transport Officer (ARTO) of Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) Samba Pawan Sharma claimed that in his tenure as RTO, he has so far penalized fifty bus operators for using pressure horns. There is shortage of sufficient staff in office despite that we are trying our best to curb the menace of pressure horns," he said.
Good resolutions have not appeared on the road. A crackdown on selling, buying and using pressure horns, with spot fines and other immediate deterrents is sorely needed, but the will to implement them seems to be drowned in loud honks. |
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