PANJIM, OCT 20
The High Court of Bombay at Goa on Wednesday, directed the State government to file an affidavit in a Miscellaneous Civil Application filed by the Citizen’ s Committee on Noise Pollution.
The Division Bench comprising of Justice D G Karnik and Justice F M Reis asked the government to disclose the names as well as addresses and phone numbers of all the officers concerned, who will be responsible for monitoring of complaints received from citizens regarding noise pollution throughout the State.
It may be recalled that the said Committee was formulated, after the High Court while disposing off a writ petition had directed the State Government to constitute such a committee to enforce the noise rules effectively in the state.
The seven member Citizen’s Committee on noise Pollution comprises of Antonio De Souza (Calangute), Francois D’Souza (Candolim), Ranjana Saudagar (Calangute), Floriano Lobo (Anjuna), Desmond Alvares (Anjuna), Nivarutti B Sirodkar (Morjim) and Prasad Shahapurkar (Mandrem).
The members of the Committee had filed a Miscellaneous Civil Application in the High Court praying for directions to the Goa Police to effectively implement the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules 2000, along with the guidelines laid down by the Environment Protection Act, 1986.
The petitioners had stated that even though many concerned citizens had complained on several occasions to the police, barring some petty fines and warnings, no stringent action was taken against the offenders of the acts of noise pollution.
In view of the grievance made by the Petitioners, the High Court has now directed the State Government to file an Affidavit which will contain the names, addresses and contact numbers of all the officers, not below the rank of the deputy superintendent of police, who will be responsible for receiving and monitoring complaints from concerned citizens regarding activities of noise pollution throughout the State.
