AGARTALA: The Division bench of the High Court of Tripura on Wednesday directed the state government to comply with the provisions of the law, or else the court will take strict action while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) by the editor of a local media group Anal Roychoudhury.
The bench comprising Chief Justice A K Singh and Justice Arindam Lodh directed the state government to strictly follow the directives of Tripura High Court in 2014 regarding noise pollution.Although there has been an improvement, noise pollution is still at a severe level, even in silent zones like hospitals have not been spared, the court observed.
Especially, during the celebration of festivals and immersion of puja idols, nights have become nightmares with endless loudspeakers emitting high sound even in rural areas. Based on the direction of HC, the state government has designated Sub-Divisional Police Officers as the authority for regulating the use of loudspeakers or sound systems in public spaces.
The situation in Tripura worsened in the last few years and the level of noise pollution during the celebration of Ganesh puja this year went beyond tolerant limits for three days. Thereafter, editor Roychoudhury sought action from Director General of Police, Chief Secretary, and State Pollution Control Board, but didn’t get any favourable response; then moved to the high court with PIL.
The court directed stringent action against the use of pitch sound boxes, loudspeakers with eye-irritating lights, and DJ sets, which have become part and parcel of the celebrations nowadays. As per law, not more than 65 decibels of sound are allowed for music-producing electronic equipment and sound amplifiers are permissible during busy hours and no such equipment is allowed between 10 pm and 6 am in public places.
Advocate General Siddhartha Sankar Dey said that the high court banned the high sound-producing instruments and the concept of sound limiter was introduced. All music equipment should have sound limiters otherwise it couldn’t be used, sold, rented, or bought.
“The High Court asked the administration to seize all high noise-producing machines which are being operated without a limiter. It has also warned the administration that if the order was not adhered to, the consequences might be stringent,” Dey underlined, adding that the government would take appropriate action adhering to the order of the high court.