Noise pollution during Diwali this year was not so alarming as compared to the last year, thanks to the frequent rains on Thursday which prevented people coming out of their homes to fire crackers. The Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) had rolled out mobile monitoring units, mounted over vehicles, to measure intensity of noise pollution during Diwali at different locations identified by it which indicated less noise pollution this year all over State Capital.
JSPCB officials claimed that maximum noise pollution was recorded at Albert Ekka Chowk during peak hour on Diwali.
“Noise pollution level was recorded at five different locations at High Court, Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, lalpur, Albert Ekka Chowk and Ratu Road every hour from 6-9 pm out of which maximum pollution of 85.3 was recorded at Albert Ekka Chowk,” said Member Secretary of Pollution Control Board Sanjay Suman. Although, maximum permissible limit of noise pollution is limit is 64-78 db, it is not as alarming as it is quite less than that recorded last year, he added.
“Minimum pollution remained there as 79 db while the average noise pollution calculated at Albert Ekka Chowk was 82.75 db,” said the Member Secretary. Pollution level was recorded at every location each hour with the help of noise level meters, mounted on vehicles and an average was calculated out of it, he added.
“Ratu Road remained on the second position with maximum noise pollution level of 79.9 db while the average remained at 80.478 db,” Suman said. At RIMS, the average noise pollution was 64.67, while at lalpur it was 81.925, he added.
Suman further said that an advisory had been issued from the JSPCB to use firecrackers of a particular range of decibel only. The permissible decibel count in silence zones is 40 dB during nights and 50 dB during days. For commercial areas the permissible count is 65 dB during days and 55 dB during nights and for residential areas, it is 55 dB and 45 dB.
Former president of Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industries President Pawan Sharma said that he had not seen such weather on Dipawali in his entire life.“I had never such weather on Diwali during the last 50 years. Following Supreme Court decision of banning fire crackers on Diwali, a sense of awareness has definitely developed among the people against the polluting fire crackers,” said Sharma. People were reluctant to fire crackers this time, it further got strengthened due to frequent rains on Thursday, he added.