In an attempt to reduce “unnecessary vehicular honking” and make citizens aware of the health and other hazards associated with it, industry captains led by Mr Sumit Mazumder, President, CII & CMD, TIL Ltd; RAdm A K Verma (Retd), Chairman, CII Eastern Region & CMD, GRSE Ltd; Mr T V Narendran, Deputy Chairman, CII Eastern Region & MD, Tata Steel Ltd; made a pledge not to blow horn “unless it is absolutely necessary”. This was part of a campaign called ‘Horn Not Ok Please’ (HNOP) pan India by CII and its sister organization Young Indians (Yi).
Joining them in the pledge here today were Mr Ajay Shankar, Chairman of the Expert Committee on Ease of Doing Business in India, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Mr Sumit Dutt Majumder, former Chairman, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), Ms Tejal Patil, General Counsel, GE South Asia, Mr Sanjiv Puri, Chairman, CII Eastern Region Task Force on Agro & Food Processing & Executive Director, ITC Ltd, Mr Sandipan Chakravortty, Past Chairman, CII Eastern Region & Chairman, TMIL Ltd; Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII and many others.
We deserve freedom from heart-stopping pressure horns, CII President Mr Sumit Mazumder said, adding that vehicle honking is the biggest contributor to noise pollution across the world.
While the accepted decibal value around the world is 85-95, in India it is 110-115.
“There has been a series of demonstrations and documents on other type of pollutions like industrial, water and air, noise pollution especially vehicle honking has almost never been addressed and has therefore a serious issue since this medium makes the largest amount of noise throughout the world,” said RAdm A K Verma (Retd), Chairman, CII Eastern Region & CMD, GRSE Ltd, adding that often, honking is either unnecessary, or it serves no purpose. The vehicle users should make a conscious decision not to blare the horn, except when it is really necessary.
“I do not blow horn myself. And I also insist that my driver does not do it either. We will work out a plan and to check unnecessary use of horns,” Mr T V Narendran, Deputy Chairman, CII Eastern Region & MD, Tata Steel Ltd.
The Horn Not OK Please (HNOP) is a national campaign against unnecessary honking, spreading social awareness regarding noise pollution and initiating action at the community level to reduce the growing menace of vehicle honking.
Members of the Young Indians of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the students will take in the ‘Horn not OK Please’ (HNOP) campaign.