A small-scale entrepreneur, named Sujan Barua, and his teenage son Abhishek Barua on Tuesday went on a hunger strike in the Cheragi Pahar intersection of Chattogram, demanding effective steps to make the port city free of sound pollution. 

They placed a 16-point demand that includes stopping the use of hydraulic horns and preventing sound pollution immediately. 

“There are laws against sound pollution but no one complies with that. The use of intolerable-sound producing hydraulic horns on roads and mikes in public meetings is increasing rapidly,” Sujan Barua said.

“Sound pollution is very dangerous. Even though hydraulic horns are illegal, drivers have no care in this regard. Before this strike, we walked about 10 kilometres and tried to convince transport drivers not to use loud horns,” he told The Business Standard.

“Some people listened to us while many did not. So I have been forced to go on hunger strike.”

Earlier, the middle-aged people staged different protest programmes in different areas of the city with a dream of a sound pollution-free city. 

Sujan Barua, a resident of Chandgaon area of Chattogram city, buys and sells different types of products on online platforms. Being fed up with excessive noise in the city, he first raised his voice on July 21 this year and conducted 21 awareness programmes since then.

A 2021 study by the Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon and the Stamford University recorded the highest 130 decibels of sound in the city.

The safe limit of sound is 45 decibels. Sound over 65 decibels may cause different health complexities, according to health experts.