Mumbai: Following complaints from environmental activists against the Shiv Sena Dussehra rally on Sunday at Shivaji Park for flouting noise pollution rules, the police took a significant step today by registering a complaint under the Environment Act.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Zone V, Aswati Dorje, has written to environmental activist, Sumaira Abdulali of Awaaz Foundation, that he has registered the complaint under Environment Protection Act (EPA) of the Bombay Police Act under the Shivaji Park Police Station. This complaint has been included with another complaint from an officer of this police station regarding the breach of the prescribed noise levels given under the Noise Pollution Control Rules.
The police had earlier booked the organizer of the rally, Sena party secretary Diwakar Borkar, under the Bombay Police Act 33 for violating the 50-decibel noise limit set for Shivaji Park, a designated silence zone. “Any violation under this Act is a fine amounting to just Rs 5,000—which is a joke,” says Abdulali. “What is important is that the police has now registered the complaint under the EPA which carries a penalty of Rs 100,000 and imprisonment up to five years imposed on the organizers of the function as well as on senior party leaders who violated decibel levels in their speeches,” she says.
With no one ever having heard of Sena’s Borkar, she has asked the police to “ inform me against whom the complaints are made out.” She has also appreciated the police’s prompt action on her report.
