Loudspeakers will be allowed at fest: cops

The Azad Maidan police, on Friday, agreed to grant permission for loudspeakers at the 10-day Kala Ghoda Arts Festival. HT reports.

The Azad Maidan police, on Friday, agreed to grant permission for loudspeakers at the 10-day Kala Ghoda Arts Festival.

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The decision came after the organisers decided to move the music and dance events of the festival out of the silence zone (Kala Ghoda) to Cross Maidan.

Government pleader Dhairyasheel Nalavade stated before the Bombay high court (HC) that the police will issue a no-objection certificate (NOC) for use of loudspeakers at the festival, which is scheduled to start on Saturday.

During the course of the hearing, Nalavade informed the division bench of chief justice Mohit Shah and justice Anoop Mohta that the NOC was refused earlier because of some confusion over the location of the music and dance events.

He clarified that the police was under the impression that events were being held at the Kala Ghoda area, which is a silence zone, adding that they agreed to grant the NOC when the organisers clarified that the events will be held at Cross Maidan.

Kala Ghoda Association, which has been organising the annual art and culture festival for the past 11 years, approached the court on Friday after the senior police inspector of Azad Maidan police station informed that they could not grant an NOC for use of loudspeakers.

The petition also stated that the festival, which is organised to encourage all forms of arts – dance, drama, music, literature and fashion, has been recognised by the Union Ministry for Cultural Affairs as a prominent art festival in India and has got a place on the tourist map of the city.