Urban noise pollution has received far less policy attention than air pollution. Discuss, and suggest engineering and regulatory remedies.

The WHO's 2018 Environmental Noise Guidelines rank noise among the top environmental hazards to physical and mental health, linked to cardiovascular disease [1]. Indian cities still treat noise as a nuisance rather than a public-health risk, so the statement largely holds. The bigger gap is in carrying out the law, not in the law itself.

Why noise trails air pollution in policy

• Weaker legal base: Air pollution has its own statute, the Air Act, 1981. Noise is covered only by the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, framed under the Environment (Protection) Act [3].
• No mission or money: The National Clean Air Programme covers 131 cities, has about ₹19,614 crore earmarked for FY20–26, and is tracked on the PRANA portal [2]. Noise has no comparable programme or dedicated fund.
• Thin monitoring: The real-time ambient noise network was set up in only seven metros [4]. Air quality, by contrast, has a public AQI.
• Soft enforcement: Action mostly starts only when someone complains about noise 10 dB(A) above the standard. Festival relaxations of up to 15 days a year are also allowed [3].
• Counterpoint: The Rules do provide silence zones within 100 m of hospitals, schools and courts, and a night ban on loudspeakers (10 pm–6 am) [3]. The law exists; it is the follow-through that is weak.

Engineering remedies

• Quieter road surfaces: Crumb Rubber Modified Bitumen, made from waste tyres, is already standardised under IRC:SP:53 for the top layer of roads [5]. It can be laid first near silence zones, though it reduces noise only modestly.
• Noise barriers and green belts along flyovers and elevated corridors.
• Electric buses and acoustic standards in building codes to cut noise at the source and keep it out of homes.

Regulatory remedies

• A National Noise Mission modelled on NCAP, with city action plans and funding tied to measured reductions [2].
• Extend the real-time network beyond the seven metros and publish city noise maps [4].
• Health-based standards aligned with WHO recommendations [1], graded fines, and automated enforcement of horn and loudspeaker rules [3].

In short, noise lags behind air because it lacks money, monitoring and enforcement, not because there is no law. Quieter infrastructure combined with an NCAP-style mission would give real meaning to the right to a healthy environment under Article 21 and support SDG 11 on sustainable cities.