Mumbai: Ahead of Diwali, NGO Awaaz Foundation and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) tested 17 randomly selected firecracker varieties at the RCF grounds in Chembur, with all samples remaining comfortably below the 125 dB general manufacturing limit, which is measured at a distance of four metres from the source of the sound.The items, purchased from two separate locations, included various sparklers, fountains, and multi-shot crackers. The highest recorded noise level among the tested batch reached 93.1 dB.While overall noise compliance showed improvement, the tests also revealed some inconsistencies in product labelling, with several items missing proper noise limit declarations, chemical compositions, or functional QR codes.Reflecting on the milestone, Awaaz Foundation’s Sumaira Abdulali noted, “Today will be our 20 years of testing firecrackers in the run-up to Diwali and generally noise levels have come down; they peaked in 2006 when we recorded a cracker at 124 db.”MPCB is set to release its formal report on Friday.
