Mumbai records high noise level on Diwali, seven arrested

Mumbai witnessed a noisy Diwali this year despite the Supreme Court putting restrictions on bursting of firecrackers Some residential areas in the city recorded high noise levels Wednesday night against the permissible limits said environment activist Sumaira Abdulali the founder of NGO Awaaz Foundation which has been campaigning for bringing down noise levelsSeven people were detained for allegedly flouting the apex courts guidelines and bursting crackers beyond the permissible time limit police said Thursday In gross violation of the apex courts order people in some parts of the megacity burst firecrackers even after the 10 pm deadlineThe Supreme Court had last month permitted sale and manufacture of low emission green firecrackers countrywide and fixed a twohour time period from 8 pm to 10 pm for bursting them on Diwali and other festivalsAbdulalis team conducted noise level tests at several places in the city including Bandra Worli Juhu and Santacruz on Wednesday night At some places noise up to 1141 decibels was recorded against the permissible limit of 55 decibels in residential areas she told PTI All I can say is that the Supreme Courts guidelines were flouted but the state government and its machinery tried their best to check people and adhere to the permissible time limit Since the last few years the noise level is coming down she saidAbdulali said the Awaaz Foundations report indicates that all firecrackers tested by it are unsafe for human health and that none of them could be classified as green She reiterated her demand for the state governments intervention to facilitate a proper chemical analysis of firecrackersThe seven people were detained by police at the Marine Drive in south Mumbai Wednesday late night for bursting firecrackers beyond the permissible time limits senior police inspector Vilas Gangawane said They were taken to the police station concerned and fined as per provisions of the Bombay Police Act before being let off he saidBesides offences were registered against two unidentified persons in suburban Mankhurd for flouting the apex courts directive another police official saidThe Mumbai Polices Twitter handle also saw a flurry of complaints from across the city of violation of the Supreme Courts directives on bursting of firecrackers The complainants were asked to approach their area police station concerned an official said We have asked all police stations to follow the Supreme Courts guidelines on bursting firecrackers and to ensure action against those violating it Mumbai Police spokesperson Manjunath Singe saidMani Kumar Iyer a resident of suburban Ghatkopar complained that some people continued bursting crackers even past midnight There were no one to check them he saidAnother resident from the area who burst crackers till around midnight was pointed out the SC guidelines However he said I have been doing this bursting crackers since I was a child and would keep doing this Is this a crimeSantosh Kumar Singh a resident of the neighbouring Pune district said had there been an advisory instead of a ban coupled with the state governments positive campaigning it would have worked betterThe state government had earlier issued directives to senior officials to ensure compliance with the Supreme Courts order putting restrictions on sale and bursting of firecrackersCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in the headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever