The Bhasha Utsab sound gear. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

Artists, poets and authors sang paens to their mother tongue on Wednesday evening, turning a deaf ear to the high court ban on use of loudspeakers during Madhyamik.

The programme, Bangla Bhasha Utsab, was organised by Bhasha-O-Chetana Samity in front of Academy of Fine Arts to mark International Mother Tongue Day.

The participants spoke, sang and danced on stage, a few yards from SSKM Hospital —a silence zone. To ensure the music and lyrics reached the audience, the organisers had arranged for several loudspeakers, including two giant ones on the stage.

There were many policemen around — the chief minister was in Nandan briefly — but no one tried to enforce the ban.

“Use of microphones anywhere in the state is banned during a major exam like Madhyamik,” said green activist Subhas Dutta. Senior state pollution control board officials echoed his view.

Imanul Haque, of the Bhasha-O-Chetana Samity, argued: “There are no Madhyamik candidates around and the sound is not reaching the hospital.”

A police officer involved in issuing permission to public programmes said he was not aware about this one.

nDecibel devil: Left Front chairman Biman Bose inaugurated a cycle rally in Dhalaikal, Dum Dum, where around 25 loudspeakers were used for three hours from 10.30am, while a Madhyamik paper was in progress. Bose passed the decibel buck to the organisers.