Question

do you know that the area near the educational institutions declared a Silence Zone by the authority?

Answer 1

1) MUMBAI: Even as the state government draws up a plan to notify silence zones in the city, Ganesh mandals are likely to get a free run this year to use loudspeakers. If there is no clarity soon on the rules, it may be a similar scenario during Navratri as well, which comes close on the heels of Ganeshotsav.
"The home department will have to review silence zones in the city in consultation with the BMC. But it is a time-consuming exercise," said a senior home department official. The official said there are several flaws in the way silence zones are currently marked. "Earlier, it was taken for granted that if there is any educational or medical institute or a religious structure within 100 metres, that area became a silence zone. Now while re-listing, the government will have to use uniform criterion to decide which areas are to be notified as silence zones," said the official.


2) He added that currently the area around a doctor's clinic too is notified as a silence zone, a status which the government may change. It will also consider if educational institutions should remain silence zones after classes are over and whether the same criteria applies to coaching classes. Moreover, officials said since there is a temple at almost every lane in the city, they can't all be considered religious places and hence silence zones.

3) The August 10 amendment to the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules 2000 has put a question mark on the status of silence zones in the city. The amendment states that an area can only be considered a silence zone if it is declared so by the state government. The over 1,500 silence zones in the city, notified by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), ceased to exist with this amendment. However, officials said there is still some confusion regarding the new rules and hoped there would be clarity on the issue after the Bombay High Court hears the matter again on August 22.

4) Another aspect in the new rules is that the government can allow the 10pm deadline on using loudspeakers to be relaxed for 15 days and delegate that power to a competent authority. "We will delegate the power to district collectors for this year. Next year we will prepare a consolidated calendar of days in which we will give the relaxation," said Satish Gavai, environment secretary.

5) Ganpati mandals already get four days in which they can use loudspeakers beyond the 10pm deadline, but want the relaxation to be extended by another day, a demand the government is likely to meet this year. "While we are seeking relaxation to use loudspeakers in silence zones, we are also discouraging the use of loudspeakers and promoting the use of traditional instruments like drums and bugles during the festival. We want to follow rules but also want to celebrate the festival which only comes for 10 days in a year," said Naresh Dahibhavkar, president of the Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Samanvay Samiti, the umbrella body of Ganesh mandals. There are 11,800 mandals in the city.