25 years later, Bengal Diwali to be as noisy as rest of country
Times of India | 30 October 2024
12 Kolkata: Expect a noisier Diwali and Kali Puja this year, with firecrackers being sold in the market that, when burst, will emit noise up to 40% more than those permitted for sale in the past 25 years.
This follows a revised notification from the state pollution control board (PCB) that has increased the noise limit of crackers from 90 dB to 125 dB. The move, which activists and former noise regulators view as regressive, is feared to unleash noise demons in the city that was, until last year, considered more progressive than others in the country.
"All these years, Diwali was definitely more tolerable in Kolkata than in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad or Ahmedabad. But all the gains made in the past quarter of a century will be lost with PCB relaxing the noise norms," said Biswajit Mukherjee, former law officer with the state PCB, who, during his tenure in the early 2000s, launched a crackdown on noise violators.
A PCB official said the decibel norms in Bengal had been made uniform with the rest of the country to avoid confusion. They further cited a Calcutta High Court order in Oct 2023 that called for uniformity to justify the decibel amendment.
However, Naba Datta of the green action group Sabuj Mancha, who challenged the order, said PCB, which fought numerous legal battles earlier at both the HC and SC to ensure Bengal retained the lower noise limit, failed to argue the case this time, leading to the order that will now make Kolkata as noisy as other Indian cities.
"Bengal was the pioneer in reining in noise demons. But now, we have capitulated to pressure from the fireworks industry and allowed the noise limit to increase, making life worse for citizens," said Datta, adding that PCB had become a spectator this year. "Lack of testing crackers means it is now a free-for-all," he said.
Subhas Datta, who has fought several successful legal battles on the environment front, also felt that by relaxing the noise norm from 90 dB to 125 dB, Bengal rewound the clock by three decades. "Though the noise limit was increased last year, we did not feel it as much as sellers had, by then, stocked up on crackers with the low noise limit. This year, it will be noisier as restrictions have been binned," he said.
Babla Roy, who represents fireworks manufacturers, in a letter to the state chief secretary on Tuesday, complained that illegal firecrackers from ‘outside' were being sold rampantly across the state. "Fake fireworks claiming to be green have flooded the market. It will be a challenge to ensure only green crackers are burst," he said.
At Baji Bazars, fireworks dealers said the change in decibel limit had ensured that many crackers that could not be sold earlier could make a comeback, as long as they claimed to be green. But with the CSIR-NEERI app to check authenticity of green crackers non-functional, there is no way to check the claim on cracker packets.
Kolkata: Expect a noisier Diwali and Kali Puja this year, with firecrackers being sold in the market that, when burst, will emit noise up to 40% more than those permitted for sale in the past 25 years.
This follows a revised notification from the state pollution control board (PCB) that has increased the noise limit of crackers from 90 dB to 125 dB. The move, which activists and former noise regulators view as regressive, is feared to unleash noise demons in the city that was, until last year, considered more progressive than others in the country.
"All these years, Diwali was definitely more tolerable in Kolkata than in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad or Ahmedabad. But all the gains made in the past quarter of a century will be lost with PCB relaxing the noise norms," said Biswajit Mukherjee, former law officer with the state PCB, who, during his tenure in the early 2000s, launched a crackdown on noise violators.
A PCB official said the decibel norms in Bengal had been made uniform with the rest of the country to avoid confusion. They further cited a Calcutta High Court order in Oct 2023 that called for uniformity to justify the decibel amendment.
However, Naba Datta of the green action group Sabuj Mancha, who challenged the order, said PCB, which fought numerous legal battles earlier at both the HC and SC to ensure Bengal retained the lower noise limit, failed to argue the case this time, leading to the order that will now make Kolkata as noisy as other Indian cities.
"Bengal was the pioneer in reining in noise demons. But now, we have capitulated to pressure from the fireworks industry and allowed the noise limit to increase, making life worse for citizens," said Datta, adding that PCB had become a spectator this year. "Lack of testing crackers means it is now a free-for-all," he said.
Subhas Datta, who has fought several successful legal battles on the environment front, also felt that by relaxing the noise norm from 90 dB to 125 dB, Bengal rewound the clock by three decades. "Though the noise limit was increased last year, we did not feel it as much as sellers had, by then, stocked up on crackers with the low noise limit. This year, it will be noisier as restrictions have been binned," he said.
Babla Roy, who represents fireworks manufacturers, in a letter to the state chief secretary on Tuesday, complained that illegal firecrackers from ‘outside' were being sold rampantly across the state. "Fake fireworks claiming to be green have flooded the market. It will be a challenge to ensure only green crackers are burst," he said.
At Baji Bazars, fireworks dealers said the change in decibel limit had ensured that many crackers that could not be sold earlier could make a comeback, as long as they claimed to be green. But with the CSIR-NEERI app to check authenticity of green crackers non-functional, there is no way to check the claim on cracker packets.