Trying to follow the court's orders of restoring the ground to its original condition the next day, hectic activity was on at Shivaji Park yesterday; noise activist writes letter to police chief asking for strict action to be taken for sound violations
After violating the sound level norm as laid down by the High Court on Wednesday during Shiv Sena’s annual Dussehra rally, the party was hard at work to ensure that they didn’t fail to break other diktats and clear the grounds by Friday. On Wednesday, the Shiv Sena for the third consecutive year breached the permissible noise limits with a record high of 98 decibels (dB) (‘Sena rally flouts HC conditions’, October 24). In 2011, the sound limit recorded was 83 dB, while 2010 was a quieter affair with a recording of 85 dB.
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‘Staging’ a comeback: The stage was dismantled yesterday, following a High Court ruling, which stated that the stage had to be brought down on Thursdayu00a0
Court’s order
According to the High Court order, the Shiv Sena was to ensure that the sound levels did not exceed more than 50 dB. Additionally, the High Court had said that the organisers of the event shall restore Shivaji Park to its original condition on the next day — October 25 itself.
When MiD DAY visited the ground yesterday, workers were clearing the ground of all the litter that was strewn about and the stage that had been erected for leaders to make their speeches was yet to be dismantled.
Seeking police action
And following Wednesday’s sound violations, Sumaira Abdulali, founder of Awaaz foundation, sent a letter to the commissioner of police asking for strict action to be taken. “This is the third continuous year that I am writing to the police as I found several violations and I hope serious action is taken against the Sena. The main problem was of the loudspeakers, which in no way are distributed sound systems as the Court had mentioned them to use.”
Sena speaks
Vinayak Raut, Shiv Sena Secretary and MLC, said, “The work to dismantle the stage and to clear the ground will be done by Friday morning. It is not possible to do everything in just one day as the ground is so huge.”u00a0
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