Mohanogorer Mohamela in February 2023.
Khadi Mela 2023-24 in February 2024.
The fairs may be different a year apart but the allegations of noise pollution and blatant violation of earlier directives remain the same at the Taltala ground in Jodhpur Park.
And at the receiving end are the patients of the decades-old Sri Aurobindo Seva Kendra (EEDF), which shares a common boundary wall with the ground.
Microphones and large amplifiers have been blaring at high volume at Taltala ground since January 25 this year, violating all noise norms and West Bengal Pollution Control Board’s earlier directive on not using microphones there.
The West Bengal Khadi and Village Industries Board, a state government undertaking, has organised the fair, which is scheduled to end on February 13.
The violation is all the more serious since use of microphones in the open is currently restricted because of various board examinations in progress.
Sabuj Mancha, the green platform, lodged a complaint with the West Bengal Pollution Control Bureau on Monday, demanding immediate action. On receiving the complaint, WBPCB issued a directive to the officer-in-charge of Lake police station, asking him to ensure compliance to the noise norms, including blanket ban on loudspeaker use adjacent to the hospital, and submission of an ‘action-taken report’ to the board, a copy of which is with The Plurals.
Activists protest
“We received the complaint over the weekend and have already lodged our protest with senior WBPCB officials. It is strange how this violation could have occurred in a place where the PCB earlier imposed a blanket ban on loudspeaker use and asked police to ensure compliance,” said Naba Dutta, Sabuj Mancha secretary.
“Though the noise level seemed to be lower than in earlier programmes organised on the ground, it has been an ordeal for over two weeks,” a staff member of Aurobindo Seva Kendra (EEDF) told The Plurals on Sunday evening.
Last April, the WBPCB member-secretary had issued a directive to the Kolkata police commissioner asking him “to see that the guideline with respect to Silence Zone should be complied with strictly” and pointed out that “the local police officials should be directed to oversee the compliance of noise rules in the aforementioned hospitals not only during the ongoing book fair but also during any such functions to be organised in future”.
Hardly ‘silent’
When The Plurals visited the fair on Sunday evening, a musical programme was going on in full swing; and the noise level was measured to be 86 decibels adjacent to the hospital wall against the permissible limit of 50 decibels. According to experts, an increase of every 10 decibels doubles the pressure on the eardrums.
The noise level measured by The Plurals team at Taltala ground, Jodhpur Park, on Sunday. evening
The norms state that there should not be any use of a loudspeaker or public address system or microphones in ‘silence zone’; an area comprising not less than 100 metres around hospitals, educational institutions and courts.
“We have heard about the norm but were not fully aware. This was a mistake, and we will immediately rectify it,” Nimai Chand Halder, chief executive officer of the Khadi Board, told The Plurals on Monday.
“Violation of the noise norms has become a rule everywhere,” said Biswajit Mukherjee, retired WBPCB chief law officer and former high court-appointed special officer who complained how noise norms were blatantly flouted in Kanailal Vidyamandir, a school at Chandannagar, close to a health establishment recenty.
“Left Front chairman Biman Bose recently asked party workers not to use microphones while protesting the Sandeshkhali issue but that is a rare exception. Normally, government institutions and all political parties are the biggest offenders. Hence, the administration cannot do much about other violators,” added Mukherjee.
