Moscow, Oct 12 (IANS/RIA Novosti): A proposal to slap fines of around $1,000 for "nocturnal screams and knockings" in residential buildings in St. Petersburg city has been criticised by Russia's Public Chamber.

The draft bill, passed Wednesday in its first reading by St. Petersburg's Legislative Assembly, would also outlaw "whistling, the moving of furniture, singing and the playing of musical instruments, as well as any other actions that disturb the peace and quiet at night".

It will also penalise pet owners allowing their dogs to howl or their cats to leap around their apartments late at night.

"The authors of draft bills should be sensible and objective," Anatoly Kucherena, the head of the Public Chamber's safety committee said, adding that late-night noise should be measured scientifically.

"We have seen a lot of strange legislative initiatives coming from St. Petersburg," Kucherena went on. "All this is turning the law-making process into some kind of clowning around."

A St. Petersburg lawmaker earlier asked the city governor to consider ways to limit media reports on the "end of the world in 2012."

The country's TV channels have been filling their audiences with the idea that 2012 is the year of the apocalypse.