Bengaluru: Noise pollution may be driving people up the wall, but the Centre appears to think they can put up with more of it as there is now a move to amend the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rule 2017, to allow use of loudspeakers up to 12 am for national or state functions, including Independence Day and Republic Day and any other day as notified by the Centre or the respective state governments.
But Bengalureans are expectedly not enthused, especially as the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) prohibits the use of loudspeakers between 10 pm and 6 am in the city.
"Allowing the use of loudspeakers up to 12 am does not make any sense. It goes against the Pollution Control Act, which prohibits the use of speakers after 10 pm," says Mr Mahesh Kashyap, a consultant with the Centre for Sustainable Development.
The changes are being made to the rules that were published on February 14, 2000 and were last amended in 2011. Now Rule 5(2) will permit the state governments to use "loudspeakers between 10 pm to 12 am on or during any cultural, religious or festive occasion of a limited duration not exceeding 15 days in all during any a calendar year."
When contacted, KSPCB chairman, Laxman said objections could be filed by the state government to the draft notification on extending the time for use of loudspeakers.
"We have over 120 days (four months) to file our objections and so the board will go ahead with the guidelines it has set for noise pollution presently. The government has over 18 months to implement the order," he explained.
