Guidelines of High Court neglected
Aurangabad, May 4:
The Bombay High Court has ordered in 2016 that action should be taken if a complaint is received regarding noise pollution. Complaints can be lodged through anonymous letter, e-mail, phone, SMS, WhatsApp and on toll free numbers. The police station has to keep a separate register of these complaints. It is mandatory to report the action taken to the complainant. However, these norms are floated in all police stations.
According to police officials, the citizens in the district, including the city, have not lodged a single written complaint of noise pollution in the last one year. The police stations also lack a register to report such complaints. If there are no complaints from the citizens, then the concerned administration also ignores the issue. But if a citizen lodges a complaint, the police have to take notice. But no case was reported to the city police and rural police stations in the past year regarding noise pollution. The police also lack any official statistics in this regard.
Permission sought only by organizers
Permission to play DJ in the anniversaries of various great personalities has been obtained by organisers at the concerned police station. There is a written guarantee that the noise will not exceed 45 to 55 decibels. However, since the intensity of the noise is not measured, it is not possible to assess noise pollution. Also, loudspeakers are installed at religious places. There are more than 1,600 religious places in the city, but none have taken permission to install loudspeakers, a senior police official said.