Loudspeakers in the state

May 03, 2022
Tuesday

India is a land of music, festivals, different cultures, diverse races, ethnicity, and not to mention doctors, engineers, leaders, and so on. And, also the largest democracy in the world, everyone has the freedom to express their views, exercise whatever profession, practice their wishes, and follow whatever religion one wants. But, as time advances we tend to cross our threshold and start exploiting things on our wish, forgetting that our constitution only allows exploiting our freedom till it won't become a problem to others or it won't hurt others.

The sacred places of worship where devouts go and offer their prayers like Temples, Mosques, churches, Gurudwara, and other worshipping centers of different religions can be seen as installed with loudspeakers in the entire country. Similarly in our state too, the practice of installing loudspeakers had gone beyond the limits of what was allowed. Wherever only two loudspeakers were allowed could be seen with five loudspeakers and unauthorised and illegal loudspeakers too. In 2017, the High court in the state issued an order to remove all these unauthorised and illegal loudspeakers in all the religious worshipping places and other public address systems. And follow the norms of "The Noise Pollution Rules 2000" for installing these loudspeakers only after having the permission of the authority. But, the issued order was seen as being flouted by many, and also the law enforcers could be seen as failing to fall people in line with the rule.

But a week before, the state government issued the directive and called for immediate removal of all the illegal and unauthorised loudspeakers from all over the state, and within a week more than 55,000 loudspeakers have been removed. The head of these religious places and the head of the various religion all issued statements endorsing the government's directive and voluntarily removing the extra loudspeakers. Various Public Interests Litigations (PIL) have repeatedly filed this issue citing that it disturbs the children's education, and also the people's sleep in the morning and enhances the noise pollution.

According to the rules laid out-

• The loudspeakers are to be limited in number which ensures that the sound does not exceed the premise of the religious place.

  i.e. Curb the number of loudspeakers to a minimum level.

• It also laid out the required decibel(dB) level to be followed to enjoy these loudspeakers according to the various zones categorised in the state. For instance, In industrial zones - up to 75 dB during the daytime

  For commercial zones - up to 65 dB during the daytime.

  For residential zones - up to 55 dB during the daytime

  For silence zones - up to 50 dB during the daytime and 40 dB during the night, (The silence zones include schools, hospitals, and other similar places)

The guidelines also directed on what basis we can be sure of that these decibels are with respect to the guidelines. Of course, one cannot deploy machines to check the noise level every now and then. So, according to the source-

50 dB sound is like inside the library

60 dB sound level is when 2-3 people are talking

70 dB sound level is that of traffic noise.

At last but not least, I must say that the effective implementation of such orders is not just required in one state of the country but is required all over the country. We cannot hamper the education of our children and we must abide by the directives and guidelines which are essential not for the youth but also for the citizens of the country. Those who are seen violating such guidelines must be punished according to the law. And we must lead by example.

Thank you.