Three areas in Barishal city have been declared as "silent zone".

According to the Department of Environment of Barishal divisional office, the areas adjacent to Barishal General Hospital, Barishal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital, Shaheed Abdur Rob Serniabat Law College, and Amrit Lal Dey College have been declared as "silent zones".

On Friday, the authorities set up signboards in the areas in this regard.

According to DoE sources, noise over 45 decibels during nighttime, and over 50 decibels during the day, have been prohibited in the areas. In addition, the use of all horns is forbidden.

While visiting the areas, however, this correspondent found trucks and microbuses were honking their horns, and people were using loudspeakers, violating the directives.

Abdus Shukur, a truck driver in front of Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital, said he did not notice the "silent zone" signboard in the area.

Shah Alam, a microbus driver, said they were not aware of the silent zones.

Rafiqul Alam, co-coordinator of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (Bapa) Barishal Divisional unit, said, "We have distributed leaflets in these three places, but it will take time to inform everyone about the directives".

Contacted, Md Tota Mia, assistant director of Barishal DoE, said, "We have started a campaign (about it) from this month and will continue till October. After that, we will try to take legal actions against the rule violators."

"There are provisions of two months of imprisonment and a fine of Tk 5,000 if the directive is violated," he added.