By IANS,
Mumbai : The Shiv Sena at its annual Dussehra rally here violated the noise level limit laid down by the Bombay High Court, an activist said Thursday.
“I have filed a complaint with the Mumbai Police commissioner, after the noise levels during the speeches of Shiv Sena leaders exceeded 50 decibels as permitted by the court,” said head of Awaaz Foundation Sumaira Abdulali.
“Under directions from the court, I measured noise levels at the annual Shiv Sena Dussehra rally Wednesday. The background noise level before loudspeakers were used was about 59-61 decibels,” she added in her report to the court.
Abdulali pointed out that the noise level was at its highest at 88 decibels during the speech of Mumbai Mayor Sunil Prabhu, while the noise of the drums during the procession outside the ground was at 98 decibels.
She said that the noise levels during the speeches not only rose and far exceeded those permitted by the noise pollution rules for a silence zone, they were also higher than those at last year’s rally.
The high court Oct 15 granted conditional permission to the Shiv Sena to organise its Dussehra rally at Shivaji Park in Dadar in central Mumbai.
The court made it clear that the Sena would have to look for a new venue next year onwards and directed Awaaz Foundation to monitor the decibel levels at Shivaji Park during the rally.
The judges had also ordered the use of “distributed sound systems”, installation of sound barriers and maintenance of the noise levels under check.
While the Shiv Sena placed asbestos sheets all along the boundary of the park to reduce the noise levels, these were absent at many spots and not uniform, Abdulali said.
“High wattage loudspeakers were used for speeches and additional noise sources such as drums were present outside the Shivaji Park,” she said.