AUGUSTO RODRIGUES
VAGATOR: Nerve-racking music by the organisers of Circus X Namas’ Cray at Vamos by Echo continued to haunt the residents in the Vagator-Anjuna belt despite North Goa Deputy Collector Kabir Shirgaonkar issuing permissions by restricting the timing till 10 pm. Fed up with the relentless sound pollution close to their homes, locals from Anjuna and Vagator now plan to hold a candlelight march before things go out of hand.
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The music that started in the evening at Vamos went on till dawn with Hill Top, Titlie, Dynamo, Diaz Pool Club and Bar, being the other prominent units joining the bandwagon.
To rub salt to injury , local resident Rita Ali, who in an email had raised the red flag to Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB), stating that the event was being held three metres from her residence, found herself at the receiving end.
She received a complainant from far away Exocim requesting authorities to initiate action against her.
One Ajit chodankar from Olaulim, Ecoxim, has in a letter addressed to the Bardez Mamlatdar and GCZMA member Secretary referred to an, “illegal construction of residential house and guesthouse in Survey No. 218/15 A & 218/3 by Ana Rita Moraes r/o of Ozrant, Vagator Goa.”
“I received a call from the talathi asking me to be present at his office with all my property documents. I need something in writing to react,” reacted Rita Ali.
“It is obvious that some people are desperately trying to silence not only Rita, but all of us fighting this menace of noise pollution that keeps raising its ugly head irrespective of the directions of the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court,” said an annoyed Avelin D’Souza, who herself was recently served a gag letter from one of the habitual noise offenders next to her residence.
“This is a cheap attempt to try and keep us quiet and we are not ready to succumb after having reached so far with the help of the High Court,” assured Janet Moraes.
The decibel reading at Circus X Namas’ Cray at 8.25 pm showed an average of 75 dB; 79 dB at 10.15 pm and 82 dB at 00:10 am from the residence of Rita Ali, who stays three metres away from the open air stage.
If Rita Ali and her family could get no sleep, the matter was similar with 35-year-old Valency and her family members as the noise from Titlie and surrounding units disturbed them till dusk.
“We doubt whether they had the required permission to play till 10 pm from the Deputy Collector, forget after 10. The new style is to start blasting music after midnight and my daughter cannot handle it,” complained Valency’s mother, a person with disability.
The traffic was sparse till around 10 pm in Vagator, but picked up thereafter as most units playing music upped the volume.
“This is now the new trend in our village. They try to keep the volume low till around 10 at night and when they are actually not supposed to play any music, they start blasting. Perhaps they think, the cops go to sleep and it is time for them to play,” observed Pauline D’Souza.
“First, they show no respect for the law of the land and then they try to threaten us by trying to stop us from speaking the truth. This government has taken corruption to new heights,” thinks Avelin.
“Either the owners of Diaz are not aware of the High Court orders allowing them to function without playing music or they think they can keep fooling the court all the time,” reasons Agnes D’Souza, whose family has been at the receiving end.
