The district's Joint CP had a meeting with top cops on Friday and explored ways to ensure that mitra mandals follow Supreme Court's guidelines to control rising decibel levels
Mumbai, Thane police, fight, Dahi Handi, The Joint Commissioner of Police for Thane VV Laxminarayanan, Supreme Court, decibel levels
Festivities boast of pomp and splendour but they also lead to high noise decibels that cause much trouble to citizens. In order to control this menace during the upcoming Dahi Handi and Ganesh Chaturthi festivals this year, the Thane Police will soon implement the Supreme Court’s (SC) guidelines on noise pollution.
According to Supreme Court guidelines, decibel levels in residential areas should not exceed more than 50 decibels. File Pic
The Joint Commissioner of Police for Thane VV Laxminarayanan had a meeting with top cops from the district’s police force on Friday and explored ways to ensure that mitra mandals (associations that organise these festivals) across Thane district follow these guidelines. Though officials haven’t yet reached a consensus, they are keen that the SC’s recommendations should be followed at the earliest.
According to the SC guidelines, decibel (dB) levels in residential areas should not exceed more than 50 decibels. In silent zones, the cut off is 45 dB, while in commercial areas, it’s 65 dB and in industrial areas it’s 75 dB.
The decision comes after many people were seen violating noise levels in the city during festivals. Three years ago, Thane resident Dr Mahesh Bedekar filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Bombay High Court against the gross violation of noise levels by sound system operators. Every year, during festivals various activist groups and citizens file at least 10-15 sound violation complaints with the civic and police authorities.
“Usually nobody follows the prescribed guidelines issued by the SC. In Thane, especially, there were a lot of places where sound system operators broke the laws. Senior citizens have a harrowing time during festivals. A strict law and order situation should be maintained and cops should keep a tab on such miscreants,” Bedekar told sunday mid-day.
Thane’s Joint CP VV Laxminarayanan said, “We had a meeting on Friday and discussed ways to implement the guidelines across Thane district. We still haven’t reached a conclusion about how to implement them but we want to ensure that it’s done at the earliest.”
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