Ranchi, Oct 8: What is common between Old Delhi's busiest commercial hub, Chandni Chowk and puja pandals in Ranchi? The level of noise at both the places is much above safe limits.

Come festivities, and loudspeakers blare out at a deafening pitch at the puja pandals.

Puja revellers overlook warnings by health experts regarding the consequences of being exposed to a high degree of noise pollution.

“Constant exposure to high frequency sound may damage the cochlea - the part of the human ear, which perceives sound. Bursting of crackers or gun shots may cause temporary damage, but regular exposure to traffic noise, loudspeakers blaring at high volumes and constant firing by soldiers may cause permanent damage,” a city ENT specialist said.

Asked about measures that the city administration will initiate to check the noise menace during Durga Puja, Ranchi SDO Shankar Jha said: “We have asked Puja committees not to use loudspeakers between 10 pm and 6 am. Besides, we have also asked the puja committees to keep the pitch of the loudspeakers within a permissible limit.”

“The police cannot keep a round-the-clock vigil on all puja pandals for two reasons. At times the people themselves encourage loudspeakers being used at a high pitch and secondly, if the police intervene during puja, vested interests may give it a communal colour,” said a senior police official.

“The public should be educated about the menace of noise pollution and the resultant health hazards. They should be discouraged from bursting crackers and careless use of loudspeakers,” he added.

Advocating legal strictures to curb the menace, sources from the Jharkhand Pollution Control Board (JPCB) cited the Calcutta High Court's landmark judgement in 1996, which came come down heavily on bursting of fire crackers and use of loudspeakers during festivals.

“A similar legal stricture should immediately be enforced in the capital also,” they said. “According to recent studies carried out in the city, noise levels at the busiest commercial hubs and major traffic corridors range between 75.7 and 82.6 decibels. This is much above the normal level of 65 decibels,” JPCB sources said.

Deputy commissioner Jai Shankar Tiwary said police stations have been instructed to act immediately on complaints received.

about using loudspeakers after 10 pm.