District Collector K. Vasuki has said a system has been put in place to check noise pollution during elections and the festival season.
Anyone who wanted to put up a sound system in a public place, be it for festivals, cultural programmes, stage shows, or political functions, had to take permission.
They should also have a licence for using the sound systems.
ADVERTISEMENT
“The licensing system will be made stringent,” she said.
Expressing serious concern over the use of loudspeakers, Dr. Vasuki said organisers of festivals were the worst violators of rules pertaining to noise pollution. Though it would not happen in a day, there was need to change the ‘culture’ of using loudspeakers.
In the wake of the noise pollution drive conducted last year, it was found that no follow-ups were done in terms of registering cases or fining violators. Now, there would be a proper system to ensure that decibel levels did not exceed limits.
ADVERTISEMENT
Website created
Ms. Vasuki said a website had been created in which police officials could enter the violations.
The Collectorate would then issue the violators two warnings. If the violation continued after two warnings, licences would be cancelled.
“It is the responsibility of the person putting up the sound system to ensure that all regulations are followed, including volume control.”
Random checks would be held to make sure that loudspeakers were installed only at the venue of a programme and not some distance away. Equipment used to measure decibel limits would be pressed into service and action taken, she said.
Earlier, at a meeting with representatives of political parties, Ms. Vasuki had pointed out that noise pollution was posing a problem for school and college students who were appearing for their examinations.
Election venues
The government, she said, had allowed use of loudspeakers within 300 m of an election meeting venue.