Ever wondered about the ear piercing sound of loudspeakers on political campaign vehicles and whether the authorities have any mechanism to check the intensity of the soundIJ If not, here is the answer. The officials at Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB), Police Department and District Administration are utterly confused on whos and hows of the the mechanism. Each department puts the responsibility on other’s shoulder.
As per the guidelines issued by Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) political parties are not supposed to exceed the volume of their loudspeakers emitting sounds of poll parody beyond 75 decibels in Industrial Area, 65 decibels in Commercial Area, 55 decibels in Residential Area and 50 decibels in Silence Zones.
However, cops and administrative officials responsible for the ‘noise-check’ have different idea about the noise limits for the same. And, they perhaps feel the limit is the same in the whole city.
“It is about 80 decibel within the state capital. We have directed our patrolling parties to keep a watch on all the campaigning vehicles. After receiving the approval of playing the party songs within this limit each party is playing their parodies. Road Transport department authorities and Magistrate are also looking over the matter,” Superintendent of Police (City) Anoop Birtharay said making it a point that his force has the exact mechanism of tracking the noise level.
Interestingly, Officers-in-Charge of various Police Stations were clueless about the noise checking system. “We cannot tell the noise limit. It is the responsibility of Sub Divisional Officer,” said Kotwali Police Station Officer-Incharge.
Stating a different version and relating the notification of JSPCB, Sub Divisional Officer Ameet Kumar confirmed that they have strictly instructed the political parties to use the noise upto 55 decibels.
“As we have not received any complaints on the matter, we cannot speak on the norms,” Argora Police Station Officer-in-Charge said.
Asked on why JSPCB is not keeping an eye on the government authorities and political parties, an engineer of the department’s regional office pointed that their work is to send the updated notifications of pollution norms to Police, District Administration and Municipal Corporation. “We cannot implement the points of Pollution Control Board,” added the engineer.
In the confusion of this technical aspect, political parties are easily tuning the volume of their choice in languages including Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu, Nagpuri, Hindi and Bhojpuri. The band sounds of marriage parties are adding more this effect.