Cops in Ulhasnagar and Thane ask DJs to cut down noise pollution

The drive began in the last week of March. Pic for Representation

In a bid to reduce noise pollution, the Thane and Ulhasnagar police have turned up the volume on Disc Jockeys (DJ), by banning them from playing at cultural programmes or weddings. Interestingly, the move to drive out DJs started days after the Bombay high court issued a contempt notice to cops and civic officials in the area.

Also read: Noise pollution exceeds permissible limits in 7 cities, including Mumbai

The cops have joined the efforts of activists who have filed petitions in the Bombay high court demanding a ban on DJs and asking them to follow noise pollution norms.

Since the last week of March, Sunil Bharatwaj, deputy commissioner of police, Ulhasnagar, along with senior police inspectors of different police stations in the area and NGOs have attended different meetings to create awareness about noise pollution.

Follow the norms
Bharatwaj said, "Over the last fortnight, we had meetings with owners of DJ services, marriage halls and gardens where most weddings are held, head masters of local schools, colleges, and representatives of local religious places like mosques, churches and temples, that were attended by corporators, mayor and municipal commissioner of the Ulhasnagar municipal corporation."

"We asked them to follow the noise pollution norms and implement the Environment (Protection) Act and noise pollution rules."

In Thane and Bhiwandi
Sunil Lokhande, DCP, Zone 5, Thane said, "Every police station in our jurisdiction has started awareness programs about noise pollution."

Manoj Patil, DCP, Bhiwandi said, "We too, are creating awareness programs and have informed people that we will book them if they don't follow the norms. If residents find such violations, they should approach us and we will see to it that action is taken."