This is today's agenda for Mumbai police. Cops armed with decibel meters will punish candidates who exceed permitted noise levels
This is today's agenda for Mumbai police. Cops armed with decibel meters will punish candidates who exceed permitted noise levels
Winners of the Maharashtra Assembly polls must ensure they don't go overboard with victory celebrations. After
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the city witnessed one of the noisiest Diwalis this year, the Mumbai police will ensure post poll celebrations remain peaceful.
Not feasible
"The Mumbai police had purchased 120 decibel meters during the Lok Sabha polls. The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) provided them an additional 30 and trained the cops on using them," explained Dr B D Wadde, regional officer, Mumbai region, MPCB.
"The police should use the meters of counting day too," he added.
A senior inspector, who did not wish to be named, said, "It is not feasible to stop thousands of people from bursting fire crackers."
During Diwali
A survey conducted by the NGO Awaaz Foundation, which spreads pollution awareness, found that the city had flouted the 10 pm ban on bursting crackers.
"We gotu00a0 around 150 complaints of crackers being burst post 10 pm during Diwali. This was more than the complaints we've received in the last two years," said Sumaira Abdulali of Awaaz Foundation. She blamed the lack of police presence and deliberate disabling of the police control room helpline (100) for the noise pollution.
The decibel levels
125 dB: The cap on firecracker sounds as per an SC order
145 dB: All firecrackers, except for flowerpots and sparklers, are around this decibel
55: The permissible decibel level during the day
45: The permissible decibel level at night
85: The decibel level that can damage human ears
1.5 lakh: Schoolchildren who had vowed not to burst noisy crackers this Diwali
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