NOISE POLLUTION NOT MUSIC TO THE EARS

Even before Goa began emerging as India's 'The Party Place' and electronic dance music (EDM) festivals came of their own at the turn of the millennium in 1999-2000, the State was already grappling with the problem of loud music and the noise disturbing the peace in neighbourhoods across the State. 

In fact, in the decade of the 1990s, Goa earned a name globally as the place which gave birth to a genre of techno music -- trance -- which came to earn the sobriquet 'Goa Trance'. It was when this trance music came to dominate the State's tourism landscape with late night parties here, there and everywhere along coastal villages in the 1990s that the debate erupted over the disturbance caused by the noise to simple folks living in the neighbourhoods of these venues.  

As a result, the Government of Goa adopted the Sound Act of Madhya Pradesh to regulate the use of amplified sound at public venues which mandated the district magistrates (Collectors) and sub-district magistrates (Deputy Collectors) to licence and regulate the activity. The magistrates, under this law, had the power and the discretion to either allow or disallow the use of amplified sound. They also had the power, in exceptional cases, to permit the use of sound systems beyond midnight. It was in these years of the 1990s decade that the MP Sound Law played havoc with the lives of those in the industry as well as people who from the other side of the fence were lobbying for silence beyond 10 pm, while the collectors, deputy collectors and the police who aided the magistrates, ruling the roost. In a way, it was one of the main reasons why traditional events of Goa like street dances and balls at several village feasts and around Carnival and the Christmas-New Year week, went extinct.  

Then in the year 2000, the Central government, following multiple litigations and proceedings in the Supreme Court of India, stepped in and came up with the 'The Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000' and despite multiple amendments to date, it has failed to resolve the dilemma -- to permit, or not to permit -- use of amplified sound beyond 10 pm.

Sound restrictions pose 

dead end for many  (SUBHEAD)

The recent Bombay High Court at Goa directions to the government and Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) for an action plan to ensure no noise pollution at the Sunburn EDM festival as well as other such activities like every year earlier, poses a serious threat to Goa's quintessential attraction -- the party scene and nightlife -- which has come to become a crucial component of Goa's evolution as the country's party capital. Banning music beyond 10 pm is bound to kill it eventually, top players in the sector admit.

Beach shacks, restaurants and open air venues all play amplified music and also have local artistes playing live music gigs to entertain guests. Shutting it down by 10 pm will spell doom for them, they say.

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Nightclubs raised

indoor venues

There is one niche segment of the party and nightlife scene -- Goa's many nightclubs -- meanwhile which will be unaffected by the sound restrictions. The reason being they have built dance floors and DJ consoles within sound-proof enclosures.

Recognizing the right of citizens living in their neighbourhoods to live and sleep in peace devoid of the noise over a decade ago, several of the nightclub owners made big capital investments to set up these soundproof enclosures to move the party scene indoors in their clubs.

However, many other popular night spots in the Calangute-Anjuna-Arambol-Morjim belt of North Goa are mostly not designed to block sound from travelling and they will have no option but to stop the action in their house by 10 pm.

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Damocles' sword on 

artistes, musicians? 

The sound laws also pose a threat to another segment of Goans who earn a living entertaining tourists at nightspots -- Goa's many artistes and musicians who do gigs regularly at these venues.

Many artistes The Goan spoke to believe restricting music to 10 pm makes it difficult for both restaurant owners and musicians, who normally do a three-hour shift with a break in between. Now the music will have to be played only between 7pm and 10 pm, a time slot which is hardly convenient for the clientele. 

"Who comes to dine at 7 pm?” was the question posed by many of these artistes, who believe Goa needs a sound law which is suitable to local needs, ethos and an economy largely driven by tourism with entertainment at its core. They want the government and lawmakers to step in and amend the law.

A 11 pm deadline for restaurants and 12 pm deadline for weddings is the middle path the musicians and artistes suggest will lend resolution to this vexed problem.

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Technology 

a solution?

Way back in 2008, when Goa's tourism and entertainment landscape was hit by a similar crisis due to the debate around playing loud music, Goa's iconic music ambassador Remo Fernandes had attempted an experiment where amplifiers were dumped and performers went 100 per cent acoustic.

The pop-star himself did a few such acoustic gigs across Goa then but the experiment failed as in the tourism belt policing and enforcement of the sound laws went whimsical and amplified music returned with a bang.

Another experiment to beat the sound laws in yet another corner of Goa down south -- Palolem -- achieved some success styling itself 'Silent Noise'. It held mute parties where patrons were given headphones and an option to pick the music spun by multiple DJs playing simultaneously in the House. The club had 350 headphones and partying goes on till the wee hours with none in the neighbourhood even noticing. This experiment could give technology a chance to step in, especially in the age of bluetooth and other web-based technology including ear pods linked to the House's music system to eliminate the disturbance to neighbours. 

The crackdown on violation of sound laws beyond 10 pm is music to the ears of the many residents and activists who helplessly bore the brunt of the disturbance for years but those in the tourism sector's restaurant and entertainment business are understandably disturbed. 

It is in this backdrop that the Pramod Sawant-led government, which promotes it as the State's primary economic activity, will have to step in and come up with a legislative solution to salvage Goa's proverbial hen that lays a golden egg -- tourism.