The State Government has decided to strengthen measures to ensure a complete ban on busting of firecrackers and use of loudspeakers beyond the permissible sound limits as set by the Ministry of Forest and Environment under the guidance of the Supreme Court of India.
Additional Chief Secretary, Housing and Environment Department, N Baijendra Kumar on Tuesday issued a letter to the district collectors and superintendent of police (SP) of all the districts, asking them for proper implementation of the directives issued them in this regard in recent past.
He asked the officials concerned to ensure a complete ban on the firecrackers which generate noise above 125 decibels from a distance of 4 meters. Similarly, a ban will be in force on busting ‘chain of firecrackers’ (ladiya) beyond the standard of 5 lan (N) decibels. The ‘N’ refers to the number of firecrackers added in the chain (ladi).
Kumar maintained that a ban will also be in force on busting firecrackers from 10 pm to 6 am and asked to maintain a distance of 100 meter from hypersensitive areas including hospitals, schools, courts and religious places.
He asked the officials concerned to inform the school children about adverse effects due to busting of firecrackers in form of noise and environment pollution. Kumar sought support of the students and eco-clubs established in the schools for spreading public awareness in this regard.
This apart, he instructed the officials of the Environment Department to prepare a comprehensive report of the noise and pollution level recorded before and after Diwali festival.