Despite reports about poor cracker sales and low-key Deepavali celebrations, there has been no drop in noise levels.

According to a report from the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, noise levels recorded at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health (IGICH) in Nimhans campus recorded 10.2% increase in noise levels during the day and 15.5% more at night during Deepavali festival days.

The national noise limit during the day in hospital zones is 50 decibels (dB) and 40 dB during nights. The hospital is said to be a silent zone where decibel levels have to be less compared to those in residential or commercial zones.

At Domlur too, the noise monitoring systems recorded an increase in noise levels recording 11.3% during the day and 8.4% during the night.

The national noise limit in residential areas is 55 dB but the place recorded 61.4 dB during the day. At night, the limit is 45 dB but in Domlur, it was 60.6 dB.

The KSPCB report says noise pollution levels at Whitefield Industrial Area, Yeshwantpur police station, Nisarga Bhavan, SG Halli, BTM Layout and at IGICH have increased during the day by 4.3% and at night by 5.8%.

KPSPCB chairman Lakshman said noise levels have increased especially in sensitive areas like hospital zones. The board has visited over 3,000 schools and made students take an oath not to burst crackers.

Jhatkaa.com, an NGO, recently installed an air monitoring system in Koramangala to check on the air quality NGO member Noah D’Mello says that they chose the area as there is no government installed monitoring system there to check on the pollution levels.

Their monitoring system recorded levels nine times more than the normal at around 10 pm on October 19.
The NGO plans to install more systems in Whitefield and Indiranagar in the coming days.
DH News Service