Chandigarh: Noise level drops at one place, soars elsewhere

A senior official of the CPCC said that noise level which was recorded post-10 pm indicated that some people were bursting crackers despite the restrictions.

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While noise level recorded a marginal drop at a few monitoring locations this Diwali, it soared in the silence zone of Sector 29 during certain hours. Even as the police went on to enforce the High Court ban not to burst crackers after 9.30 pm, noise level was recorded at a considerable extent from 10 pm to 12 midnight as well, though less than previous year’s Diwali. The level was recorded in the residential area of Sector 22, commercial area of Sector 17 and silence zone of Sector 29 between 6 pm and 12 midnight.

In Sector 22, from 8 pm to 9 pm, the noise level was 82.2db last Diwali which was 80.8 dB this time. From 9 pm to 10 pm, the noise level soared to 84.8 dB but was less than previous year’s Diwali which was 86.3dB. However, from 10 pm to 12 midnight, the noise level recorded from 10 pm to 11 pm and 11 pm to 12 midnight was 75.5dB and 76.0dB which on a normal day, as recorded on October 12, 2017, was only 48.5 dB and 46.8 dB in this zone.

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Ironically, in the silence zone in Sector 29, the noise level recorded an increase in certain time period. The noise level from 6 pm to 7 pm soared from 58.4dB last year to 62.2dB this year. While from 7 pm to 8 pm and 8 pm to 9 pm, the noise pollution recorded was 67.5 dB and 75.3dB, respectively, as compared to 65.0 dB and 70.1 dB last year. But there was a dip during the 9 pm to 10 pm hour, with the zone recording just 72.2dB as compared to 80.5 dB last year during the same hour.

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When the time for bursting crackers was over, the noise level from 10 pm to 11 pm and 11 pm to 12 midnight here in the silence zone was recorded as 62.0 dB and 56.1 dB as compared to a normal day with 57 dB and 54.8 dB.

In the Sector 17 commercial zone, the noise pollution level soared during 6 pm to 7 pm with 56.9dB recorded this year as compared to 55.6 dB last Diwali. However, at all other hours, the noise level dropped down by 4 to 5 notches. Here too, the noise level recorded from 10 pm to 12 pm was 54.9 dB and 48.6 dB which was more than a normal day’s noise level.

A senior official of the CPCC said that noise level which was recorded post-10 pm indicated that some people were bursting crackers despite the restrictions.

Hina Rohtaki

Hina Rohtaki is a Special Correspondent with The Indian Express, Chandigarh. She covers Chandigarh administration and other cross beats. In this field for over a decade now, she has also received the prestigious Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award by the President of India in January 2020. She tweets @HinaRohtaki ... Read More

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