Ganpati leaves with a bang as mandals cross all noise limits

This year’s Ganeshotsav probably saw the worst violations of noise pollution rules since the Supreme Court framed them in July 2005.

On the evening of September 21, the last day of the festival, anti-noise campaign group Awaaz measured noise levels at various locations in the city. The results were shocking. “This is probably the first year after the Supreme Court rulings that there have been such violations,” said Sumaira Abdulali of Awaaz Foundation.

At Bandra Talao, a silence zone where loudspeakers should not be used throughout the day, the decibel levels topped 100. And it was not just Ganesh mandals. At Girgaum Chowpatty, the police used loudspeakers continuously asking people to follow the rules.

The loudspeakers were the primary source of noise that reached levels of 102.9dB between 11.00pm and 1.00am. “In previous years, they used small police loudspeakers to make announcements. This time, there were loudspeakers installed on the footbridge. In previous years, visarjan stopped at midnight or 10pm, and the police loudspeakers stopped at the same time.

This time, the visarjans went on throughout the night,” she said.
While the police at Girgaum Chowpatty used loudspeakers, their counterparts at other main immersion spots did not. For instance, the police at Shivaji Park and Juhu visarjan points did not use loudspeakers.

There were also stark disparities in the way police stations handled noise violations. While processions were noisy in the Santa Cruz police station area, they were quiet in the Juhu Police Station area.

“Noise levels were above permissible limits,” regional officer of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board DB Vadde said. “But noise levels have come down compared to earlier years because of greater awareness among the public.”