5.5.1. Ambient Noise Level Monitoring

♤ Noise Pollution (Control and Regulation) Rules, 2000 define ambient noise levels for various areas as follows:

Category of Area/Zone	Limits in dB(A) Leq
	Day Time	Night Time
	6 a.m. to 10 p.m.	10 p.m to 6 a.m
A. Industrial Area	75	70
B. Commercial Area	65	55
C. Residential Area	55	45
D. Silence Zone	50	40

♤ The Government of India on Mar 2011 launched a Real time Ambient Noise Monitoring Network. Under this network, in phase- I, five Remote Noise Monitoring Terminals each have been installed in different noise zones in seven metros (Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Lucknow).

♤ In Phase II another 35 monitoring stations will be installed in the same seven cities. Phase III will cover installing 90 stations in 18 other cities.

♤ Phase-III cities are Kanpur, Pune, Surat, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Jaipur, Indore, Bhopal, Ludhiana, Guwahati, Dehradun, Thiruvananthpuram, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Gandhinagar, Ranchi, Amritsar and Raipur.

♤ Silence Zone is an area comprising not less than 100 metres around hospitals, educational institutions, courts, religious places or any other area declared as such by a competent authority.