Bhubaneswar, June 2: Tired of the loud thumping music or the jangle of snare drums during wedding and other processions? The state government has come up with a new notification to ease the pain somewhat.
It has asked all DJs and owners of band parties to carry sound limiters along with their audio systems while playing music in processions. It has already sent a communication to this effect to all the district administrations. Though there is a law prohibiting band parties from crossing the 65-decibel sound limit, it is hardly ever followed by them.
"Henceforth, band owners will be given permission to operate only if they have sound limiters with them. The police can check for them at will," said a senior official of the state government.
Sources in the state government said the administration issued the fresh direction to all officials concerned to ensure that all band and music parties restricted their sound levels to the permissible 65-decibel limit in pursuance of an Orissa High Court order.
Hadibandhu Panigrahi, regional officer (Bhubaneswar) of the Odisha State Pollution Control Board, said: "We will strictly abide by the norms. We will even carry out surprise inspections. The police should examine whether the band parties have sound limiters with them at the time of issuing licences to them."
Even the police will be equipped with decibel metres and be authorised to conduct surprise raids if they deem it necessary. The violators will face a penalty of Rs 1,000 and imprisonment of up to six months.
N. Acharya, president of the Rajdhani Band Owner's Association, said: "We welcome the fresh order of the state government. In wedding processions, sometimes it becomes too difficult to restrict the sound within the permissible decibel limit."
"On many occasions, we have to face the wrath of the members of the wedding party if we don't play at a higher tempo or volume. Sometimes, they even threaten to not pay our fees if we don't play at a higher volume," he said.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Acharya also said: "While we invest at least Rs 5 lakh to develop a DJ system, we will not hesitate to install a sound limiter, whose cost varies between Rs 6,000 and Rs 10,000 depending on the quality. We also don't like to play loud music at night."
In Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, band parties are allowed to play music till 10pm. If any band party is found in violation of that law, the police and the administration are empowered to seize all the instruments.
At present, nearly 300 DJs and band parties operate throughout the state.
"Once the new law is strictly implemented, people will certainly ask for traditional sound systems like brass party, the double conch and even Punjabi dhols. These will be less costly than hiring DJs and their sound will also not cross the 65 decibel limit," said Acharya.
While the band parties charge around Rs 20,000 per night for the DJ, they charge Rs 10,000 for traditional bands for the same period.
