The Madhya Pradesh High Court’s Indore bench has ordered state authorities, police, the pollution control board and local bodies to take stricter steps against noise pollution, after observing that residents had experienced “unbridled noise pollution” during Navratri and Dussehra.
A division bench of Justice Subodh Abhyankar and Justice Jai Kumar Pillai directed the authorities to place on record complaints received by police stations across Indore, including any complaints registered by the police on their own initiative. The court also ordered the state to republish the city’s list of silence zones and invite suggestions for adding other prominent locations to the list.
The directions were issued in a petition filed by Amitabh Upadhyay. The court said that merely producing newspaper excerpts referring to silence zones did not amount to proper compliance with its earlier order. The authorities must publish the list in daily newspapers with wide circulation, as directed on September 24, and provide the public with an opportunity to suggest additional areas for designation.
The bench further ordered that noise-measuring devices be supplied to police personnel at every police station in Indore. It noted that ACP Khajarana Ashish Patel had brought a sound-measuring device to the hearing, but that the device had not yet been used in public to record noise pollution or take action against anyone. The court said such equipment could be useful if provided to police personnel on active duty responding to complaints.
The police have also been directed to publish the contact number of the concerned police station for noise complaints in newspapers and on the Indore police website. Each station house officer must appoint two volunteers from every ward to report noise violations. The volunteers have been asked to immediately inform the police about people or vehicles involved in noise pollution and record the violations on their mobile phones.
The arrangement is intended to provide an alternative for residents who may hesitate to approach the police directly because they fear being drawn into legal proceedings. The court said members of the public could approach the ward volunteers, while police must act on such complaints in accordance with law.
The court separately criticised the volume of the Indore Municipal Corporation’s garbage collection vans. It observed that the vans play a cleanliness song through loudspeakers at full volume and said that, although citizens need to be informed about their arrival, the sound produced by the vehicles also crosses legal limits. The IMC was directed to reduce the volume to the permissible decibel limits for such vehicles or to at least 25% of its present level.
The bench said it was “again at pains to observe” the noise levels witnessed and experienced in the city during Navratri and Dussehra, and remarked that the police appeared to be “totally helpless” in curbing the problem. It nevertheless said it would not give up on Indore and expressed hope that coordinated action by all stakeholders would bring the required change and peace.
The state, police, pollution control board and local bodies have been directed to file a compliance report within a further three weeks. The matter is listed for the week commencing November 23.
