By IANS
Mumbai : Mumbai Police have booked 568 people and organisations for violating noise pollution control rules during the Diwali festival even as environmentalists and activists called for more efforts to check the menace.
Police have cracked the whip on the violators of the Bombay High Court and central government norms on noise pollution and the ban on use of loudspeakers during the Diwali festival.
A senior police official told IANS Sunday that the violators were ordered to deposit between Rs.1,200 to Rs.5,000, which will be adjusted against a penalty by local courts. Failure to pay up could result in a higher penalty or further action by the courts.
The official said the police would continue to maintain a strict vigil, which started Nov 8, and no individual or organisation would be allowed to transgress the ban as it could be treated as contempt of court.
The noise pollution rules came into force following a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court, which rejected a Maharashtra government plea challenging the Bombay High Court ruling three years ago, bringing much cheer to anti-pollution campaigners.
Among other things, the norms pertain to exploding high-decibel firecrackers and use of loudspeakers between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. The rules are enforced round the year except for 15 days that are decided separately by state governments.
The sound limits are: in designated silence zones, 50 decibels in daytime and 40 decibels at night, in residential areas 55 decibels and 45 decibels respectively and in commercial localities 65 decibels and 60 decibels respectively.
On Diwali day and in the run-up to the festival, the sound levels recorded have been in excess of 130 decibels, considered deafening with serious health hazards.
Sumaira Abdulali, chief of AWAZ Foundation, an NGO, said the Mumbai Police should do a lot more to bring the noise pollution levels under control.
“For the past couple of years, police have been booking the offenders under the Bombay Police Act, which stipulates nominal penalties. Why can’t they book them under the Environment Protection Act which stipulates a Rs.500,000 penalty and five years in jail?
“Even if they file just five cases, it will be a great deterrent for the prospective violators,” Abdulali told IANS.