CPCB sets the permissible noise limit of 55 dB up to 10 PM and 45 dB post 10 PM for residential areas. In the Indian scenario, most of the metropolitan cities and mid-cities surpass the ambient noise levels and remains higher most of the time than the set limits during the day time. The Nagpur city is not an exceptional one in this regard. Besides this, with the arrival of India’s biggest festival Diwali, the bursting of firecrackers shoots the ambient scale to much higher levels.
Nagpur Municipal Corporation has allowed firecrackers and fireworks in the city only between 8 pm to 10 pm. CSIR NEERI has monitored the city’s noise pollution by collecting noise data at 66 locations with the help of Android Application Noise Tracker. Er. Satish Lokhande, noise Expert CSIR-NEERI, wants to thank the Nagpur city volunteers and the staff of NEERI who have wholeheartedly contributed to the cause. Special thanks to the researchers Alfaz Hirani, Prashant Chopkar, and Mahindra Jain jointly coordinated this activity from the front.
Typically, we have seen that the ambient noise level in Nagpur city ranged between 60 to 70 dB. However, due to the impact of Covid 19 Pandemic restrictions, the ambient noise levels were significantly lower than usual before the Diwali festival. The actual ambient noise data gathered before the Diwali festival in October observed between 51.4 to 66.6 decibels. On Saturday, the first day of the Diwali festival, noise data gathered between 7 pm to 11 pm shows that Nagpur city has recorded the noise level in the range of 57.9 to 80.3 dB. Comparing before Diwali data with festival day noise levels indicates a rise in the usual ambient level by an average of 13 dB. Out of 66 locations, 42 shows noise levels between 60 to 70 dB, whereas 22 areas have noise levels ranging from 70 to 75 dB. Only at 7 locations, noise recorded above 75 dB at Narsala Hudkeshwar, Shree Ram Nagar Hudkeshwar, Laxmi Nagar, Ganjipeth Mominpura, Gajakheth Chowk Gandhibagh, Ayodhya Nagar Manewada, and Nagraj Nagar Nari road locations. Noise levels at all the locations surpasses the CPCB set permissible limits of 55dB for the day time. During the festive time of Laxmi Puja, the city’s nosiest place was the Gandhibagh area and Ayodhya Nagar Manewada, which recorded the highest noise level of 79.8 and 80.3 dB, respectively. The NEERI colony, Vasant Nagar, Jaitala, Ram Nagar and Gandhi Nagar square, Ambazari, encountered lower decibels than other locations.
In last year, noise levels monitored during the Diwali festival ranged from 62.5 to 80.8 dB, where most of the locations have 65 to 74 dB, except at one place, 80.8 dB was recorded. As compared to the previous year, the Diwali noise pollution in Nagpur is slightly less polluted as most of the data ranged between 60 to 70 dB, and fewer data varies between 75 to 80 dB. A decrease in the noise level has been recorded in the city on Saturday and Sunday compared to last year. As recently, the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) conducted a pre-Diwali test of firecrackers and revealed that all the firecrackers available in the local market are well within the permissible limit of 125 dB (AI). The pollution level reduction is mainly due to public cooperation, strict government regulations, and control over the firecracker’s quality.
