DIWALI CELEBRATION :CRACKERS NUISANCE ;
ALL CRACKERS EXCEED SAFETY LIMITS :SCIENTIFIC STUDY !
A Central government study conducted earlier this year concluded that not a single firecracker available in the market was within the prescribed noise level limits set by the Supreme Court.
A test of 846 firecrackers made by 144 manufacturers in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu - the hub of firecracker pro
ALL CRACKERS EXCEED SAFETY LIMITS :SCIENTIFIC STUDY !
A Central government study conducted earlier this year concluded that not a single firecracker available in the market was within the prescribed noise level limits set by the Supreme Court.
A test of 846 firecrackers made by 144 manufacturers in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu - the hub of firecracker pro
duction in the country - showed that the minimum noise level these firecrackers generated was 120 decibels (dB) against the Supreme Court-mandated 105dB for a string of crackers. The noise limit for a single cracker is 125dB. The maximum noise these tested firecrackers generated was 146.8dB.
The tests were carried out by the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization (PESO) in March this year. PESO tested firecrackers such as 'atom' bombs (King of Kings, King Kong, Hydrogen Bomb, Bullet Bomb) and other bombs both big and small; 'dynamite'; Chinese crackers (strings of 1,000, 2,000 and 5,000) and maroons (Laxmi 3 1/2, Laxmi 4, Spiderman, Garuda and Parrot), among others.
There are 700 firecracker factories in Sivakasi and only four PESO officers to test and monitor the products. Dr S M Mannan, controller of explosives, PESO, said, "We are doing the best we can." Officials from the explosives department said their task was made more difficult by the fact that firecracker making is a cottage industry and they are manufactured manually.
"Right from the mixing of chemicals to filling them in tiny boxes and winding with a thread, everything is done manually. So the packaging of a firecracker is not uniform. Whatever samples we have taken were found to exceed the noise levels and their batches were destroyed," Mannan said.
Anti-noise activists asserted that the law should be very strong for the manufacturers who make their products exceeding the desired decibels. "It is not fair to say that the industry cannot be monitored properly. The authorities should be more agile and take stern actions," activist Rajnedra Khangarot said.
The tests were carried out by the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization (PESO) in March this year. PESO tested firecrackers such as 'atom' bombs (King of Kings, King Kong, Hydrogen Bomb, Bullet Bomb) and other bombs both big and small; 'dynamite'; Chinese crackers (strings of 1,000, 2,000 and 5,000) and maroons (Laxmi 3 1/2, Laxmi 4, Spiderman, Garuda and Parrot), among others.
There are 700 firecracker factories in Sivakasi and only four PESO officers to test and monitor the products. Dr S M Mannan, controller of explosives, PESO, said, "We are doing the best we can." Officials from the explosives department said their task was made more difficult by the fact that firecracker making is a cottage industry and they are manufactured manually.
"Right from the mixing of chemicals to filling them in tiny boxes and winding with a thread, everything is done manually. So the packaging of a firecracker is not uniform. Whatever samples we have taken were found to exceed the noise levels and their batches were destroyed," Mannan said.
Anti-noise activists asserted that the law should be very strong for the manufacturers who make their products exceeding the desired decibels. "It is not fair to say that the industry cannot be monitored properly. The authorities should be more agile and take stern actions," activist Rajnedra Khangarot said.
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