Friday, August 21, 2009 2:05 IST
Mumbai: The state government on Thursday informed the Bombay High Court that it had identified 1,313 religious places in the city which would be notified as silence zones.
Through an affidavit filed by Anna Dani, principal secretary, home department, the court was told that this would be done within the next three months.
Shrihari Aney, special counsel for the state government, told the court that the commissioner of police had issued a circular to all police stations in the city and directed them to register offences against those places flouting the noise pollution norms and file weekly reports to the deputy commissioner of police.
Awaaz Foundation, which had filed a PIL seeking implementation of noise pollution control measures, had told the court that the BMC's proposal to allow helipads on buildings could worsen noise pollution. Aney, however, told the court that the state would file a separate affidavit related to helipads within two weeks.
Mallika Iyer, advocate for Awaaz Foundation, said the state still needed to decide two issues regarding the permission granted for use of loud speakers and processions moving through silence zones.
Advocate Uday Warunjikar, arguing a similar petition on the implementation of noise pollution control measures in the rest of Maharashtra, said that noise pollution levels during festivals such as Ganesh Utsav accelerate even in smaller towns.
Chief justice Swatanter Kumar and justice AM Khanwilkar said similar steps should be taken in the rest of the state. They added that a system should be worked out within the limitations of the state government, as controlling noise pollution cannot be done overnight. "If not Ganpati, by Navratri the noise pollution levels will be under control," Khanwilkar said.
Aney also told the court that the police was not equipped with enough sound-mapping machines. He said that it would thus be difficult for them to register offences against those exceeding noise pollution limits. "We can restrict the time for usage of loud-speakers but cannot register offences unless more machines are made available to us," Aney said.