The demand for legitimizing 'Noise Pollution' in the State. After the Transport (bus and truck) operator's deadline to the government to scrap the speed regulators or else.. the GTEA along with the political parties are drumming support for increased noise pollution. One cannot but marvel at the gall these guys have.
I am the general secretary of 'Goa Environmental Action Group' a NGO established in 1997 mainly to fight wide-spread and indiscriminate noise pollution in the state caused by funnel or horn speakers. I am also the general secretary and the co-founder of the Goa Su-Raj Party established in the year 2000 with the main objective - to prove that 'politricks', which is the common fare dished out today, is not 'politics' that should be, and that politics need not be dirty, it can also be clean. I am also on the citizen's committee (North Goa) constituted by the High Court of Bombay at Goa which is exploring ways and means to contain the noise pollution in general which is on the increase. I have gone to the High Court in suo moto writ Petition No. 97 of 1997 on noise pollution and since then I have been fighting tooth and nail to get redress. I have restrained myself from going into 'Contempt of Court' so far. But that situation could change. Slow but steadily the awakening has come to the people of Goa about the ill effects of noise pollution on children, students, the sick and the elderly, but the pro-noise forces are becoming ever so emboldened due to the lax implementation of the laws and rules in force. I have been shouting from roof-tops all this while that Madhya Pradesh Control of Loud Music (one page) Act is inadequate for a State like Goa whose people grow up with music in their blood, and that it should be replaced with a more stringent indigenous Act which will protect our culture which goes hand in hand with music, and at the same time protect us from the crippling noise pollution. Prior to my going to Court in 1997, I had approached Dr. Wilfred D'Souza, the long serving medicine man turned legislator, literally begging him to introduce a 'private member's bill' in the Goa Legislative Assembly to bring the noise pollution menace, which was getting out of hand, to order. His response to me was " you draft the required bill and I will have it passed" He had also made the following statement in the presence of others at his residence. "When my neighbour is enjoying, who am I to tell him to stop?" To that I had asked the good doctor " Your neighbour is enjoying himself at ungodly hour by tying a horn speaker to the highest tree, at what cost?" And in frustration I had told him " If Goa's 40 MLAs cannot bring in a piece of legislation which Goa badly needs to save its sanity as well as its music loving culture and instead has to rely on a one page imported lame Act from Madhya Pradresh, it is a shame" I am sad to say that the same Dr. Wilfred D'Souza, having failed to bring in amendment to the 10 p.m. deadline for playing of loud music in public and open spaces, is today dancing to the tune of 'noise polluters' who want to make money at the cost of the peace and sanity, in the name of tourism. There are a lot of arguments put forth in favour of increasing the dead-line from 10 p.m. to 12 p.m. One such argument is about Christian weddings, Church, Temple functions etc. I am a son of Goa and I have grown up in Goa to weddings, Church and Temple functions et al. At that time there were no amplifying systems by virtue of there being no electricity. We used to have weddings, dances, tiatrs just a well and everyone entertained themselves to the hilt without there being complaints. On the contrary these were eagerly looked for and it used to be a pleasure to dance to the sweet natural music striking the whole night long upto 4-5 a.m. As a teenager, I remember having come home at 6 in the morning from wedding and dances. 'Alwaratzs' (special musical interludes) where brass bands used to strike at 4 a.m. on local church feast days with no one complaining. Enter civilization through electrification, we got funnel speakers blaring out distorted amplified bajaans and devotional/film songs day in and day out from 4 a.m till 2 a.m especially during festive seasons. I could write a book on my struggle with the funnel speakers. The Rural Development Agency (RDA) made it worse by dishing out this noise generating units at subsidized rates to generate employment where 2 funnel speakers and an amplifier could be had by anyone owning a bicycle so that this could be rented out for local functions. Thus the proliferation of religious functions and noise to destroy the unique peace and tranquility of pristine villages of Goa. As according the Dr. Wilfred D'Souza, it is okay if someone wants to enjoy music or wants to test his/their tonsils over the microphone with no consideration for the neighbour, because he needs their votes. Most often, I found the inmates of the respective house fast asleep at 5 a.m. inside, while death was being spewed to the entire village from a funnel tied to the tree in the compound and facing away from the house. At one time the Police Inspector at Mapusa PS asked me a pointed question when I had gone to register my complaint. " You are the only one who is getting disturbed? We don't see any one else around complaining" To that my response was " Inspector, you must realize that I am the only one who is still alive. The rest are all dead. By the way do you know that Mr. Ambedkar wrote the Constitution just for me? And if you think I require hundred others to file behind me to register my complaint, you are sadly mistaken. You please get up from that chair to respect my rights or you arrest me". And I got my rights. Insensitive people like Dr. Wilfred D'Souza never intervened to help out then. The problem grew in time to rock Goa out of sanity with 10,000 watt + music being played from open air venues left right and center. That is when the Act of Parliament and the Order of the Supreme Court came into action with the slapping of 10 p.m. deadline because sensitive people and sensitive organization objected to this cancer, nation-wide. If at all the blame has to be placed somewhere, it has to be placed at the feet of our elected representatives. For that reason alone, on the one hand, the truckers and the bus people are telling us that they want to do their business irrespective of how many innocent people they kill or maul on the roads through irresponsible speeding, and, on the other hand, GTEA and the merry making zing-bang in the hospitality business is telling us that they don't care if we go mad, that they want to do their business of pleasing the tourists and make money. In my interaction with the officials on the High Court instituted citizen's committee, I have suggested a new format for application for use of loud music in open air spaces, irrespective of whether they are hotels entertaining by the pool-side, discos or open-air wedding venues. I have ridiculed the importance given to the 'decibel meters', the toys that let the crooks off the hook for consideration. According to me, the best decibel meter is the human ear. It revolts when the decibel level crosses the mark of decency. Decibel meters are designed to determine the noise impact of fixed installed machinery /equipment over the surrounding areas and to limit the same thereof. Not for audio equipment with volume controls. What happens with open-air loud music is that while the audiences enjoy the blast having been covered by the entire spectrum of audio frequencies (Low-Mid-High range), a person trying to get some much desired sleep some 20 kilometer or more away is disturbed by the irritating low frequency, the bass, which travels as ground-wave, with other frequencies having been lost in the atmosphere. And the worst agency that could be given the responsibility to oversee this aspect is the Pollution Control Board, as suggested by GTEA. Before a permission is given to play loud music, the respective Dy. S.P. has to give the NOC. In case of violation or a complaint, the police should be the authority which will clamp down on the violator, not the pollution control board or the Collector. The editorial of Gomantak Times (2 Feb, 2008) has summed it all up most effectively. I am happy to note the voices of dissent, individually and from some political parties. This is a technological age. Just because those who are in the hospitality business are hollering about their right to disturb others to make money from the dancing tourists, the rights of the whole lot of people not to be disturbed can be waived off? In my qualified opinion, all open air-venues must either conform to 10 p.m. deadline or close down. Also, it does not mean that they can blast the neighbourhood to kingdom come upto 10 p.m. Neither does it mean that the music should be stopped altogether after 10 p.m. As a rule, üpen-air venues in thick residential areas must be closed down with or without 10 p.m. deadline, or, they have the option to sound-proof their venues (including their tourist boats) and conduct their business 24 x 365 days with nobody to bother them, least, the police. And, by the way, the police is there to take-in not only professional criminals, but also petty criminals like the guys in the entertainment business, and more so because they are in business for their own good and nobody else's. In short, the noise pollution in the state must be tackled through sensibilities and not through decibel meters. As much as every one has the right to enjoy, every one has the right not to be disturbed. And the balance can be found through sensible laws. But to make sensible laws, it takes sensible people, not vote-seeking and favours-pandering politicians who basically do not know how the goose is cooking. Floriano Lobo Pirazona, Moira, Bardez-Goa-403 507 Ph: Res: 0832 - 2470223 Off: 0832-2266111 (M) 9890470896 ----------------------------------------------------------------- GOA needs a 'REVOLUTION' if it is to see better days. Goasuraj is that revolution. Support it. email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website: www.goasu-raj.org