At 114.4 decibels,noise levels breach all limits

It was immersion day and festivities were supposed to be loud. But at 114.4 decibels,it was deafening. Wednesday,September 18,turned out to be noisiest day of the year and took experts by surprise.

The experts of College of Engineering Pune (CoEP) kept a close tab on noise levels in the city during the immersion day for the 12th year. The experts said the sound from dhol tasha and pakhwaj on the last day of the Ganesh festival was higher by 10 decibels when compared to last year.

Dr Mahesh Shindikar,assitant professor in the applied science department of CoEP,and his team monitored noise levels at various points on Laxmi Road. Noise levels peaked at 4 pm as dhol tasha groups along with other traditional instruments create a cacophony.

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At all the 10 spots,including Belbaug / Samadhan,Anpati / Kavre Cold Drinks,Limbaraj Maharaj Chowk,Kunte chowk,Umbarya Ganpati Chowk,Bhausaheb Gokhale Chowk,Shedge Vithoba Chowk,Holkar Chowk,Lokmanya Tilak Chowk and Khanduji Baba Chowk,the sound levels hovered between 110 db and 122.4 db.

Due to heavy rain the crowd dispersed at midnight and sound levels dipped,said Shindikar, a member of Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority.

Shindikar was assisted by student volunteers Santosh Sukhdave ,Rahul Pawar,Rashtrapal Nagrale,Suraj Sasane,Vilas Rathod,Sajal Chiddarwar,Aashish Kulkarni,Shubham Palkar,Shrikant Kamble,Vijay Mane,Harshvardhan Dhote and Rohit Malap from the Board of Students Welfare of COEP. Readings were taken every four hours and the exercise started at 12 noon on September 18 and ended at 8 a.m on September 19.

Anuradha Mascarenhas

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