‘Shun loud to crackers this Diwali’

With an ambient noise level measuring 79 decibels, 44 per cent above the limit of 55 decibels, Kumara Park West was the most noisiest residential area in the city during last year’s Diwali. AECS Layout in Whitefield was second with 79 decibels.

These statistics were revealed by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) at a press conference on Tuesday to create awareness among the people not to burst crackers with high decibels.

The KSPCB, Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) and Narayana Nethralaya have jointly urged the people to refrain from bursting crackers during Diwali.

“Noise pollution is a new kind of garbage that we have to deal with. We have taken up a series of programmes ahead of Diwali to educate people about various problems created by crackers,” KSPCB chairman Vaman Acharya said. He also asked police officials to strictly implement the Supreme Court order that bans bursting of crackers after 10 pm.

VTU has issued a circular to its regional offices and 192 affiliated colleges asking students to take an oath that this Diwali will be free from crackers. “A week before Diwali, our engineering students will take out a walkathon from their respective colleges to create awareness,” said VC H Maheshappa.

Chairman of Narayana Nethralaya Dr K Bhujang Shetty said that children below 15 years are the most affected by injuries caused by crackers. “The city usually records 400-500 injuries during the festival. Last year, we received about 70 cases of Diwali injuries, and a couple of them were permanent blindness,” he said.

He added that the risk of allergies is more during Diwali as suspended particles from crackers would rise up 100 per cent in the air. He offered free treatment to cracker-related cases.