* Testing of 13 brands of fire-crackers conducted recently in city revealed 23 noise-level violations
* MPCB to monitor cracker noise levels for 3 days from today
By Kartik Lokhande
Do
the fire-crackers you have bought comply to Noise Standards prescribed
under Environment Protection Act? As far as the testing of 13 brands of
fire-crackers conducted recently in the city by Maharashtra Pollution
Control Board (MPCB) is concerned, they do not. Now, MPCB will be
monitoring noise levels at 10 different locations in the city for three
days from Wednesday.
Bursting of fire-crackers creates ‘significant’
noise pollution during Diwali festival, as per the MPCB records. As
part of creating public awareness, MPCB carried out a testing of
fire-crackers at various places across Maharashtra in association with
Police Department, local NGOs, Petroleum and Explosives Safety
Organisation (PESO). The testing was carried out at Nagpur, Amravati,
Chandrapur in Vidarbha, apart from Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, Kolhapur,
Nashik, and Thane. It was done to assess the compliance of noise-level
standards prescribed under Environment Protection Act.
The testing
report was signed jointly by S M Kulkarni, Controller of Explosives,
PESO, Nagpur; M D Bhiwapurkar, Field Officer, MPCB; N S Bondre,
Assistant Police Inspector, Control Room; U B Bhadule, Field Officer,
MPCB.
 |
| Published in The Hitavada CityLine on October 22, 2014 |
As per the noise-level standards, the manufacture, sale, or
use of fire-crackers generating noise-levels exceeding 125 Decibel (AI)
or 145 dB (C)pk at a distance of 4 metres from the point of bursting,
are prohibited for individual fire-crackers. For fire-crackers in
series, these limits are more stringent depending upon the number of
crackers in series. For testing conducted across the State, samples of
fire-crackers of different types from various companies available in
respective local markets were procured. These samples were tested where
open space was available with hard/concrete surface. The noise
measurements were made at a distance of 5 metres from the point of
bursting of fire-crackers.
As per the MPCB report, testing was
conducted for 52 brands of fire-crackers in series. During testing, 21
violations with respect to impulse standard and 31 violations of peak
standard were observed. In case of single crackers, total 126 different
samples were tested out of which 16 violations of impulse standard and
20 violations of peak standard were observed. Thus, in case of single
crackers, 36 violations were observed while in that of crackers in
series all 52 samples violated one or the other noise standard (impulse
or peak). In its report, MPCB has stated in clear terms that
fire-crackers in series ‘are not’ compliant with noise standards
prescribed under Environment Protection Act.
Meanwhile, MPCB will be
monitoring noise levels of fire-crackers on October 23 (Laxmi Pujan),
24 (Balipratipada), and 25 (Bhaubeej) at 10 different locations in
Nagpur city. These locations include Ajni Square, Civil Lines,
Dharampeth, Itwari, Civil Hospital, Deshpande Layout, Shankar Nagar,
Mahal, Sadar, and Kalamna. Throughout the State, noise levels will be
monitored on these three dates, at 115 different locations.
Violations of noise standards during
testing of fire-crackers in State
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
City Crackers brands tested Total No of Violations
Series Single Series crackers Single crackers
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nagpur 13 39 23 31
Amravati 11 26 03 --
Chandrapur 03 12 02 --
Mumbai 07 09 13 --
Pune 04 07 02 05
Kolhapur 05 09 02 --
Aurangabad 03 09 02 --
Nashik 03 09 -- --
Thane 03 06 05 --
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 52 126 52 36
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