KARACHI, Aug 4: The sue motu action taken by the Sindh Ombudsman, Justice Haziqul Khairi, against the auto-rickshaws which produce noise pollution has ultimately yielded a positive result as the unions of auto-rickshaw owners are now willing to put silencers in their rickshaws.
At a conservative estimate, there are almost 28,000 auto-rickshaws plying on different city roads creating noise pollution, which causes impairment to hearing and harm to the human memory.
The government and the traffic police had taken an initiative by forcing the rickshaw drivers to fix silencers in their three-wheelers in 1996. A model silencer was got manufactured but its price was gradually increased and the campaign could not succeed. The traffic police pressured the rickshaw owners to comply with the traffic rules and fix silencers, which had put an adverse affect and the rickshaw drivers went on a strike by parking their rickshaws on M.A. Jinnah Road near Tibet Centre causing the disruption to the flow of traffic on one of the busiest arteries in the city.
Since the failure of the campaign in 1996, the government and the traffic police have not found courage to take any action against the rickshaw drivers for contributing to the noise pollution.
In July 2001, the Sindh Ombudsman Justice Haziqul Khairi took initiative and held a meeting with the DIG Traffic. Besides, he made contacts with Forest, Wildlife & Environment department and Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) pertaining to violating the environmental laws especially the nuisance created by rickshaws.
The provincial Ombudsman also held a meeting with the president of auto-rickshaw union, Ayub Khan, on Sept 27, 2001 regarding fixing of proper silencers in the rickshaws, which are the main source of noise pollution in the city. It was observed that normally the noise level should not exceed from 85 decibel (unit of measure for sound level) beyond which it causes acute discomfort and may cause neurological disorders and diseases like hypertension in addition to serious damage to hearing capability of the drivers and the people in surroundings.
Ayub Khan informed the Ombudsman that the union of rickshaw drivers had agreed to install new silencers with double-netting which can be easily detached with the main body of the silencer and cleansed frequently as required under rule 155 of Motor Vehicle Rules 1969. The fixing process may take 3-4 months, he added.
The silencers were prepared by a local manufacturing company and it has been assured that the price of these silencers would not be increased from Rs500 per silencer. A demonstration of the working of the new silencers, fitted in three auto-rickshaws was held in the presence of Ombudsman, DIG Traffic, Secretary/DG Environment and other officials of EPA and the noise level was found to be within limits of 80-94 decibel as compared with an old level of more than 130 decibel.
In the subsequent meetings, it was decided that further progress would be monitored by DIG Traffic in collaboration with the functionaries of Sindh Environment Protection Agency. It was also decided that after the grace period allowed, cognizance of the offence would be taken under relevant Motor Vehicle laws and sections 15 & 17 of Pakistan Environmental Protection Act 1997.
Another step taken by the Ombudsman was to fix CNG kits initially in 20 auto-rickshaws on experimental basis. In this respect, SEPA had carried out a detailed study to solve the problem of noise and smoke and it had suggested that the CNG kit could be fixed in rickshaws. The progress report of fixing CNG kit in auto-rickshaws would be submitted to the office of provincial Ombudsman in near future.
Following the directives of the Ombudsman, the Traffic Police and EPA held a ceremony at police headquarters in Garden on July 18, where new environment friendly silencers of rickshaws were introduced. The representatives of unions of rickshaw owners/drivers were also present, who vowed that they would make this campaign a success provided the price of silencers would not be enhanced from Rs500, and its quality would be maintained.
The officials of police and EPA on behalf of the manufacturing company assured the rickshaw unions that the price of the silencers would remain same.
In the ceremony, it was said that 1,500 silencers were ready to be fixed. More silencers were being manufactured and would be marketed in near future. According to an estimate, all rickshaws would have these silencers in the next 4-5 months.
The provincial Ombudsman had given a grace period of six months after which he would again take notice of it.