Durga's decibels

-- For the denizens of Calcutta, Durga Puja is a time for noisy celebrations. But this year in mid-October, the West Bengal Pollution Control Board (wbpcb), with the help of 10 non-governmental organisations, undertook a campaign for a quieter puja.

wbpcb teams monitored noise levels at 30 pandals and tried to convince organisers to control their volume, following a study completed last year. The study showed that noise levels at the average pandal was 10 to 15 per cent higher than the daily average of 75 decibels, which itself is far above the norms set by the World Health Organization.

The wbpcb is also lobbying for stringent measures for cutting down on noise during the puja next year. Foremost on the agenda is banning pandals near silence zones.