Ambient air quality testing at 3 locations, noise pollution monitored at 9 locations in Jamshedpur
Ranchi, October 31: Jharkhand residents can burst crackers for only two hours on Diwali night, the Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) in its directive on Saturday.
A formal order issued by the board said during Diwali and Guruparab, fireworks will be permitted only between 8pm and 10pm. For Chhath, revellers can burst crackers from 6am to 8am, whereas on Christmas and New Year, people can do so only between 11.55pm and 12.30am, reads the order, issued by the board’s member secretary, Y K Das.
An official of the board said, “We have adopted the similar model that was enforced last year.” He said the rule will apply to all districts where pollution levels were found to be within satisfactory limits.
“Last year, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) ruled that crackers can be burst only in those places where air and sound pollution levels are found to be within the prescribed limit. In Jharkhand, pollution levels at almost all places are either good or satisfactory. Hence, crackers have been allowed, but only for the two-hour window,” he added.
The pollution board has also banned the sale of crackers that have a sound limit of over 125 decibels. “Sale and bursting of crackers with noise level only up to 125db will be permitted. It is up to the district administration concerned to ensure that crackers beyond those limits aren’t sold,” another official said.
Directive has also been issued to all the regional offices of JSPCB at Ranchi, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur, Dumka and Hazaribagh to carry out ambient air quality and noise pollution testing for 14 days (from October 29 till November 11).
Regional officer of JSPCB unit at Jamshedpur based in Adityapur, Jitender Kumar Singh said that noise pollution monitoring has already begun in as many as 13 places, while ambient air quality is being monitored in three places for Diwali.
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The decibel survey is being carried out in 13 residential, commercial and silence zones while air quality will be monitored at Gopal Maidan in Bistupur and at JSPCB office in Adityapur and Golmuri.
According to the official, three teams have been constituted for carrying out surveys before and on the day of Diwali.
The pollution watchdog would monitor ambient air quality by using respirable dust samplers that help in monitoring total suspended particles in the air apart from other pollutant gases like sulphur-dioxide and nitrogen-dioxide.
Some of the major places where the decibel check are being carried out out include Sakchi, Bistupur, Golmuri, Sonari, Kadma, Adityapur, including Tata Main Hospital (in Bistupur) , near St Joseph’s Cathedral in Golmuri and the new civil court premises at Bhuiyandih. Two portable noise meters would be used for monitoring the noise pollution.
Under CPCB norms, the permissible noise level in a commercial zone is 55dB between 10pm and 6am and the prescribed Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter ( RSPM) in ambient air is 100µg/m3.
Meanwhile, SDO Dhalbhum Sandeep Singh Meena said that directive have been issued to all police stations to ensure that the guideline issued by the pollution control board is strictly implemented in steel city.
Safety guidelines include selling only at designated points of sale, and keeping sufficient water, sand buckets and small fire extinguishers handy. Shops must maintain safe distance between each other to endure fire tenders would be able to make their way in case of an exigency.
The retailers have been also asked to follow Covid safety norms.
Various police stations have been directed to confiscate crackers if these were being sold at any other place other than the designated sale points.
Wholesalers in Jugsalai had been issued safety guidelines last week.
The two largest common sale points are Aambagan grounds in Sakchi with around 40 firecracker sellers, and the G-Town grounds in Bistupur with around 30 retailers.
Other large sale points are at Baridih Durga Puja maidan (Baridih), Gandhi Maidan (Mango), Ram Mandir grounds (Sonari), RP Patel High School grounds (Jugsalai), N Type Durga Puja maidan and Sabuj Kalyan Sangha grounds (both in Telco), Circus Maidan (Golmuri), Sunday market (Birsanagar) and Burmamines Durga Puja maidan (Burmamines).
