ANJUNA: A government-appointed committee to check noise pollution in the coastal belt and complain to the authorities mainly the police, have a big complaint to make – that their complaints are not heard, much less acted upon.
Over Independence Day and Raksha Bandhan weekend when a tsunami of visitors from the metros descended, many nightclubs and other places remained open till the next morning and posters of rave parties were held in off-the-radar venues, were displayed and distributed.
Even without this weekend rush, people living in the coastal belt of Anjuna, especially Vagator and Anjuna go through a nightmare every weekend due to the loud music parties which have not stopped haunting them even during the off-tourism season.
When contacted, the Noise Pollution Committee members of Anjuna, said the people are fed up with filling complaints as the authorities “do not intend” to take any action.
Dominic Pereira a committee member said, “As committee members, so many complaints are made but there’s no action from the concerned authorities. The members of the noise pollution (monitoring) committee are just for namesake since the government is playing games and is not serious in solving the issue. People are tired and fed up with complaining. The students and senior citizens are the people who suffer the most.”
“I tried my level best but if the authorities especially the police don’t act then where the common people will go? Whenever we phone the police and complain, they never act. So many meetings have been held at the Collector’s office but nobody has come up with a concrete solution to this issue. In every meeting, all that was talked about was making the App to monitor noise pollution operational. The App was good but now it’s not functional”, Pereira said.
“We have stopped making written complaints. We are only making oral complaints that are ignored. All that continues are the loud music parties which are held every weekend which continues till next day morning,” Pereira said.
Devanand Shirodkar another committee member said, “People are fed up since no authority is doing anything. Music parties continue and people close their ears and bear the pain. Usually, whenever loud music is played, people call me up. Also if we file complaints then the authorities politicise the issue.”
