Crackers, DJ consoles drown sound norms

KOLKATA: The Goddess may have slain the asura, but noise demons returned to haunt the city during immersions on Thursday evening.
Prohibited sound crackers were burst incessantly across the ghats of north and central Kolkata, while DJ consoles blared loud music from sound boxes perched on trucks, pushing decibel levels much higher than the permissible limit.Environmentalists feared that the decibel bar could be ignored regularly in the course of the month till Diwali, which falls on October 30.
A decibel count taken by green NGO Saviours and Friends of Environment (SAFE) and the department of environmental studies, Rabindra Bharati University , on Thursday evening indicated that the 90-decibel bar was broken at almost all immersion sites. The cracker cacophony was evident in areas around the immersion ghats as well.At Belgharia, the maximum noise level recorded was 111 decibel. DJ-conducted music pushed the noise up to 108 decibel at Sinthee crossing. The survey was conducted at Cossipore Ghat, Bagbazar Ghat, Nimtola Ghat, Sovabazar crossing, Sinthee crossing and Kamarhati.
“The noise level went up as we approached the north. DJs were used at several places beyond the stipulated 10pm limit. Crackers were burst without any restriction. This indicates a large number of banned crackers have been smuggled into Kolkata. This Diwali could be a noisy one,“ said Sudipto Bhattacharjee, green activist and SAFE secretary .
Nimtola Ghat was the noisiest immersion site, clocking a maximum of 106.1 decibel. At 108.6 decibel, Kamarhati recorded the highest noise level among the areas around ghats.Bagbazar Ghat recorded 102.8 decibels, while Cossipore Ghat clocked 98.3. Sovabazar was relatively quiet at 92.3 decibel.“The decibel level touched an average of 108.6 whenever DJs moved in. A large number of immersion trucks had them and they continued to play well after 10pm, which is illegal,“ said Bhattacharjee. The trend had started catching on about five years ago and no steps have since been taken to curb the practice of employing DJs, said Geetanath Ganguly , veteran lawyer and environmental activist. “ A permission from the police is required to use a DJ. Few care to take that but flout the decibel rule. It is clear from Thursday's events that a huge volume of banned crackers has infiltrated the city . This is just the beginning of the cracker season, so noisier days are ahead,“ said Ganguly .
The crackers made it unbearable at Babughat, according to green activist Subhas Datta. “I was present at the ghat on Thursday and the noise level was indeed unbearable. DJ s and loud music are a growing menace. They have remained unrestrained and the result is here for all to see,“ said Datta.