Firecrackers this year quieter, reveals MPCB test

16 VARIETIES OF CRACKERS TESTED

MUMBAI: Commercially available firecrackers this year are the quietest in 14 years, tests carried out by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and city-based NGO Awaaz Foundation have found.

Noise tests were conducted on 16 varieties of widely-available firecrackers at Chembur’s RCF Ground on Thursday, and the results of a chemical analysis to check for toxic chemicals like barium and potassium nitrate are expected in a day or two.

Of the 16 samples tested on Thursday, all were found to be within 125 decibels (dB), the noise limit recommended by the Supreme Court in 2005. The noise standards for firecrackers are notified under the Environmental (Protection) Act according to which, manufacturing, sale or use of firecrackers generating noise levels exceeding 125dB, or 145 dB at distance of 4m from the point of bursting are prohibited.

The results mark the first time since 2008 (when pre-Diwali noise testing began in Mumbai) when all randomly collected samples have been quieter than 125dB. The loudest firecracker tested on Thursday was 114dB, caused by a bound cracker of 10,000 ‘ladis’. The loudest violators last year touched 127dB and 130dB, respectively.

MPCB officials urged citizens to refrain from using firecrackers in Diwali festivities.

“This might be the first time that noise levels are complying with what the SC has mandated, but firecrackers become much louder when they are used en masse during festivities. That’s besides the air pollution they cause,” said a regional officer of the MPCB, who asked not to be named. The officer said that the

SC mandated noise threshold was “outdated” and needed to be revised.

“Last year, two out of 30 firecrackers were louder than permissible, which in itself was a marked improvement from previous years because it was the first time that a majority of samples complied with SC norms,” said Sumaira Abdulali, convener, Awaaz Foundation. This could mean that general manufacturing standards of fireworks is improving, she said.

“This is also the first time that barium, an extremely toxic element, has not been listed as an ingredient by the manufacturers, but we will have to wait for the chemical analyses to confirm that,” Abdulali said, adding that most crackers were certified green, and bore an official stamp of the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), which is responsible for the certification.