Noise Mapping during New Year Eve in selected residential zone of Raipur City

Noise can be said to be invisible danger which present in our environment. Monitoring and mitigating of noise is very much important to build a health environment. This study mapped the noise levels increased during the New Year Eve 2022 of selected residential area of Raipur City. Increase in the levels of noise was seen during the Eve due to burning of crackers and use of loudspeakers during the celebrations. Five locations were selected for the study and noise map was prepared for pre and post New Year Eve 2022. From the map all the five locations showed higher noise levels (above 70dBA pre Eve and above 67dBA post Eve) than the prescribed limit (above 55 dBA day time and 45 dBA night time) of Central Pollution Control Board, New Delhi.


Introduction
Sound levels which are unacceptable by the ear are defined as noise. Hampering mental health and disturbing the physical peace of human are among the common ill effects of noise [1] [2]. Noise pollution is occurred in the environment mainly due to the vehicles and machines along with the human activities such as burning of crackers during different eve and functions [3]. Adverse health effect of on humans due to noise pollution was reported in 2011 by World Health Organization in seven categories. Sleep disturbance, hearing problem, mental health, cardiovascular, task performance, annoyance and social behaviour in negative were categorised in it [4]. In developing countries hearing impairments causing factor is environmental noise along with the occupational noise (WHO 1999). Exposed population of the residential zones are mostly affected by the cardiovascular disease due to higher levels of noise [5]. Blood pressure of higher noise levels exposed population also goes higher than the population exposed to lower levels of noise [6].
Duration of noise in the environment is lowest than the other pollutants of air and water. Major contribution of noise in the environment is done by the vehicles and there honking while running on road [7]. Number of vehicles are generally increasing due to the increase in population of the country [8].Noise map shows the distribution of noise levels in the environment due to the various sources at different locations in graphical form [9] [10]. It is easy to understand the levels of noise in the single platform of various locations simultaneously. The distribution of noise can be prepared by the GIS software using interpolation [4] [11]. The noise map helps the policy maker for better understanding the levels of noise in different zones of the selected area or the cities [12]. The main objective of this study is to measure the noise levels on New Year eve at selected residential zones with high population density and prepare the noise map in order to understand increase in noise levels from crackers and music systems. Also the noise levels were compared from the prescribed limit of Central Pollution control Board, New Delhi.

Study Area
Raipur city the capital of Chhattisgarh state is one of the cities with highest population density in the state. It is located at 22º33ˈto 21º14ˈN latitude and 82º06ˈ to 81 º 38ˈE longitudes with 40,63,872 population. The study was carried out in the selected residential areas of the city which are having high population density. The five locations: Tagore Nagar, KatoraTalab, Shankar Nagar, AwantiVihar and VIP Chowkwere selected for the study. Fifth location is having the highest number of hotels

Result and Discussions
Average sound levels recorded is shown in the table 1 along with the CPCB prescribed limit. The Leq value of all the five locations is shown along with the Lmax and Lmin value. In all the locations the sound levels are higher on both the days however on 31 st December it is higher due to the New Year Eve celebrations. Tagore Nagar is situated nearer to the National Highway so the noise levels on both the days were higher than prescribed limit of CPCB. At VIP Chowk difference of 6 dBA is observed due to the loud speakers and burning of crackers at mid night.

Conclusion
From the observations we can say that all the selected locations shows higher noise levels than the prescribed limit of CPCB. However noise levels are on elevated side during the New Year Eve 2022. From the noise map it reveals that noise in the environment elevated during the Eve due to the burning of crackers and uses of loudspeakers at all the five residential areas of Raipur City. Government should make policy on uses of crackers and loudspeakers in order to mitigate the noise pollution in the residential areas of densely populated. Noise pollution shall be controlled to make our environment good for living a healthy life.