State environment minister Manas Bhunia admitted on Wednesday that many people were concerned about increasing noise pollution and pointed out that his department had repeatedly “strongly alerted” the general administration and police to ensure control.
“We wrote several times, including most recently on December 23, to district magistrates, police commissioners and superintendents of police where we have strongly alerted them about controlling noise pollution. As a nodal department we can only alert the general administration and the police,” the minister told The Telegraph.
On Tuesday, about 50 elderly persons petitioned chief minister Mamata Banerjee requesting immediate intervention to stop “a drastic increase” in violation of noise norms.
“We are a group of concerned senior citizens (and) approaching you with a problem of great urgency… We are referring to the possibility of a drastic increase in pollution because of the indiscriminate use of firecrackers, fireworks, amplifiers, music systems, loudspeakers etc during… New Year celebrations,” reads the letter.
The former sheriff of Kolkata Dulal Bose, former director of the Birla Industrial and Technological Museum Samar Bagchi, former director of All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health Arunabha Majumder and WWF India’s state director Saswati Sen were among those who signed the letter.
The letter says that “inspite of distinct legal guidelines and orders, the rampant abuse of noise pollution norms has become a regular feature of most festivities…many senior citizens have health issues that are severely aggravated by loud noise and air pollution”.
“The tolerance threshold is generally very low for elderly people, particularly a large proportion who take sleeping pills, Hence, any untimely noise can impact their sleep pattern and trigger mental and physical health problems,” said physician Arup Halder.
In October, PCB, in accordance with the national green tribunal directive, issued orders directing the compulsory use of sound limiters as well as regarding the use of only green crackers only during designated days and times. “We have seen how the norms have been flouted and the PCB and the police have hardly taken any action,” complained Naba Dutta, secretary of Sabuj Mancha.
The West Bengal pollution control board has recently filed a report in the national green tribunal (NGT) that shows that apart from Hoogly (rural) and East Midnapore, none of the regional police administrations in the state has registered a case for noise violation for misuse of loudspeakers and DJ boxes operation during October 2022, the Diwali month.
