After Navratri begins, citizens resort to X to speak up against loudspeakers
Raghav Mehta, a resident of Khar, was unable to sleep due to the loud music from 10pm on Saturday till 2.30am the next day, and then again the entire day on Sunday. “The loudspeakers make it hell,” Mehta said. “Our kids have exams and old people are trying to rest. This adds to the construction noise already present in the city
Mumbai: The social media team of the Mumbai police was kept busy on Saturday – Day one of Navratri – after several citizens resorted to X (formerly known as Twitter) to voice out their grievances against the loudspeakers used during the processions and the alleged ear-splitting noise that followed on.
Raghav Mehta, a resident of Khar, was unable to sleep due to the loud music from 10pm on Saturday till 2.30am the next day, and then again the entire day on Sunday. “The loudspeakers make it hell,” Mehta said. “Our kids have exams and old people are trying to rest. This adds to the construction noise already present in the city.”
Mehta thought resorting to social media would prompt swift action from the police. “From my past experience, the police usually take action sooner through X, so I put up a tweet and tagged the Mumbai Police,” he said. Seeming to agree with him, plenty of complaints had poured in on the social media website. Others mentioned noise in Ghatkopar, Mulund, BKC, Goregaon, Byculla and Bhandup.
Another resident from Lalbaug complained of drums and firecrackers at 11:30pm on Saturday. He tweeted, “Does anyone care for normal citizens wanting to sleep and enjoy the quiet and peace? What’s the point of having a noise deadline when you can’t follow it? You’ll be killing our city.”
Half an hour later at midnight, there was no response to his tweet nor any reduction in the noise.
According to Sumaira Abdulali from the Awaaz Foundation, the police are supposed to take action on complaints of noise pollution. “But when it is Navratri or an occasion that has a political connection, action taken is lax. All police stations have at least one decibel metre and they’re supposed to use it to measure noise. But I’ve not seen any use of it this year, and no report of the noise levels has been released. Enforcement is better in places where citizen action groups are active.”
Permission for loudspeakers is to be taken from the police before the use, with timings of use mentioned. They are only allowed to play between 6am to 1pm, and 5pm to 10pm. According to the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, the maximum volume permitted in the daytime is 75 decibels (dB) in industrial areas, 65 dB in commercial areas, 55 dB in residential areas and 50 dB in silent zones (defined by spaces within 100 metres around hospitals, educational institutions, courts, religious places).
The police have extended permissions for two days of Navratri – the eighth and ninth days – up to midnight. “People are instructed to complain on 100. After that, we record the noise levels and stop the music if it exceeds the decibel limits according to the area. We send decibel readings to the court if they’re in excess,” additional commissioner of police, central region, said.
The festival noise joined forces with the construction noise already rampant in the city. Actor Tara Deshpande remarked that she wears headphones on Sunday mornings because construction work takes place every Sunday in her neighbourhood in Churchgate. The same goes on next to her mother’s building in Marine Lines, despite a police circular prohibiting construction noise on Sundays. Despite requesting those carrying on the work, it continued.
“Sundays should be off for all. We need one day off from the mayhem, one quiet day for our physical and mental well-being. Mumbai has become a noisy black hole,” she said.