At the centre of the case is Rule 6 of Noise Pollution Rules, which prohibits activities like playing music through amplifiers or loudspeakers, beating drums, sounding horns, holding crowd-attracting performances and bursting firecrackers within notified silence zones
When DCP (crime) Gauhar Hasan, appearing on behalf of the home department and the DGP, informed the bench that the state had no objection, the tribunal ordered the DGP and the home department to ensure the rule was “strictly followed in all the silence zones in the state”. DCP Hasan told TOI that police were already obligated to enforce noise-pollution rules and NGT directions. NGT has re-emphasised the existing guidelines, and the order is applicable across Maharashtra,” he said. Pune resident and litigant Ameet Singh said the order raised expectations that authorities would finally act against persistent violations. We now expect the police to strictly enforce the rules and treat silence zones as genuine no-go areas for noise violations,” he said. Pune joint commissioner of police Sanjay Darade told TOI , “We keep recordings of all the proceedings while recording the decibel levels of music systems and other instruments played during Ganeshotsav in the city.
The directive was issued by the NGT’s Western Zone Bench in Pune while hearing an application filed by audiologist and noise-pollution activist Dr Kalyani Mandke and others against the state of Maharashtra and other respondents. The bench comprised judicial member justice Dinesh Kumar Singh and expert member Dr Sujit Kumar Bajpayee. Counsel for the applicants urged NGT to direct the director general of police (DGP) to enforce the provision. “We have identified silence zones and are working to ensure that govt instructions are followed. “Patients, senior citizens, pregnant women, schoolchildren, animals and birds are all affected by excessive noise. We have been fighting this issue for years and have repeatedly had to approach courts. Our teams take decibel meter readings and, at the same time, video-record the entire proceedings. This serves as evidence in court.”