WHODUNIT
MAPUSA
Last week the Madras High Court slapped 15 days' simple imprisonment against retired IPS officer G Sampath Kumar in contempt of court case filed by Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
The court found the retired IPS officer guilty of criminal contempt after the former Indian cricket captain accused Kumar of defaming the judiciary while in the process of deciding a case over allegations linking the cricketer to the Indian Premier League (IPL) betting scam.
Sagardeep Sirsaikar, one of the petitioners against noise pollution in Anjuna-Vagator said similar action will work wonders to fix responsibility and put the authorities in place if the madness of sound pollution has to end and bring sanity among the distressed local residents along the coast.
"Despite the series of court directions and orders nothing has changed on the ground. The night clubs blatantly promote rave parties and loud music goes on throughout the night even as the authorities look the other way," Sirsaikar said.
"Police pretend they have taken action but fail to curb the menace. That is why we were forced to file a contempt petition in the High Court," he added.
Besides Sirsaikar, Desmond Alvares and Arnold D'Sa have filed a series of public interest litigations (PILs) and contempt petitions, the latest being PIL-Contempt Petition No 12 of 2023 in the High Court of Bombay at Goa seeking directions to authorities to enforce and implement the provisions of the noise pollution (Regulation & Control) Rules 2000 and take steps and abate the noise and sound pollution in Anjuna-Vagator.
The High Court passed several directions asking the authorities, particularly the police, to act against the noise pollution in the coastal belt.
But according to the activists and the local residents nothing much has changed vis-a-vis the noisy parties that keep happening along the Anjuna-Vagator coastal belt.
"Nothing at all has changed ever since the last Sunburn party. Besides, all the regular parties were going on every day. We kept informing all the authorities either through emails or written complaints but no action was forthcoming," said Alvares, who is a resident of Assagao.
He said the staff at the Anjuna Police Station were a hard nut to crack as they refused to take proactive action.
"Finally, I started filing affidavits in the High Court so that all the details go on record," he said.
Alvares tryst against noise pollution started from the year 2000 when he first filed a PIL against loud music played in a temple in his backyard in Assagao.
That followed with a PIL/WP 11/2013 where he pleaded against the night clubs along the Anjuna-Vagator coast from conducting parties with loud music without obtaining necessary permissions.
In the latest contempt petition 12/2023 he has pointed out that violations of the noise rules continues rampantly.
"One of my suggestions was to make using wireless head phones mandatory at all the open air parties," Alvares disclosed.
While earlier the fight against noise pollution was restricted to a couple of activists, several troubled villagers have now come forward and began complaining against that menace with the authorities.
On Thursday, the villagers have written to the Anjuna panchayat about loud music being played by the clubs and mentioned the names of at least 50 clubs in their complaint.
