Starting with Ganeshotsav, MPCB to monitor noise levels during festivals.....Nitya Kaushik

The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has just turned aggressive about noise level monitoring during festivals.

In a tender advertisement released on Tuesday, the board has invited bids from agencies and educational institutes to take up the monitoring of ambient noise levels during Ganesh festival and Diwali for three years.

“We don’t have the authority to take action against noise offenders, but we do want to make monitoring a regular and systematic feature from this year,” explained Sanjay Khandare, member secretary of the MPCB. According to him, the bidders should have experience of at least two years and the necessary infrastructure and manpower for noise level monitoring.

The applying agency also needs to have valid recognition under the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) or Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, he said.

According to the tender notice, as many as 85 locations in 12 cities — Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Kalyan, Amravati, Jalgaon, Kolhapur and Satara — are scheduled to be monitored during Ganesh Chaturthi this year. Of them, 25 locations are in Mumbai and 20 in Pune. During Diwali, the noise monitoring will be more intense, with a total of 115 stations scheduled in 12 cities including Ulhasnagar, Ambernath and Dombivli.

Monitoring is planned to be done for six hours from 6 pm to midnight on the last five days of the Ganesh festival and for three days during Diwali. Decibel levels should comprise residential, commercial and silence zones’ details, the notice says.

“Till last year, we used to monitor noise levels during festivals on our own. Occasionally, we’d contract a separate agency. However, from now on we want to make it more methodical,” said Khandare. To ensure competence, the board insists that only agencies with at least 25 noise meters can bid for this contract. The bids will be opened and scrutinised on August 7.

Commending MPCB for its first step to a systematic approach, environmental activist Sumaira Abdulali said: “The need of the hour now is consistent and detailed noise data from all over Maharashtra and MPCB is a statutory body that will be most competent in collecting such a data. Such a system of noise monitoring should in fact be followed all year round.”

Mayor for eco-friendly festival

Meanwhile, Mayor Shubha Raul finally found a way to prove her point about an ‘eco-friendly’ Ganesh festival this year. Weeks after Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray slammed the idea of restricting the height of idols, the mayor announced on Wednesday that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation will hold a special competition for Ganesh mandals and households whose idols are small and are made of natural ‘Shadu’ soil. Winning entries will be awarded Rs 50,000, she said.

Raul has attracted controversy ever since she announced her intention of conducting an eco-friendly Ganesh festival. The Sena, fearing a backlash from traditional Maharashtrians, quickly disowned her views. Later, Raul had to agree with the Thackerays and admitted that mandals cannot be coerced to follow such rules.

On Wednesday, Raul announced that those mandals or individuals using less electricity, displaying decorations that create social awareness or following eco-friendly measures would be encouraged to participate in the BMC’s 19-year-old Ganpati competition.

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