PANAJI
Even as the Goa government failed to submit an action plan for curbing sound pollution during big ticket year-end music events in Goa, the organisers of Sunburn, have filed an affidavit before the Bombay High Court at Goa listing out the measures they intend to take to ensure that the music does not travel outside the venue at levels above the permissible level.
Parag Uke, the authorised representative of the organisers told the court that the organisers would be directing the speakers in such a manner that the sound is being enjoyed only by those within the venue and that they would be installing a sound absorbing banner along the periphery.
“The angle of the line array of loudspeakers will be kept pointing downwards, in such a way that it only covers the area intended as per the layout of the event thereby preventing spillage of sound beyond the designated area and maintaining the sound at the periphery/boundary below 55 dbA or as permitted by law. The sound engineers will maintain through sound limiters 104 dbA at the centre of each stage, which will ultimately result in a low special bleed rate outside of the venue thereby ensuring that the sound at the periphery or boundary of the event does not exceed 55 dbA or as permitted by law,” Uke said in his affidavit before the High Court.
According to Uke, the organisers will also hold a walk test will be carried out with the Goa State Pollution Control Board team with the sound measuring devices at the outermost perimeter of the venue to record the sound levels at those locations, so the sound is at the periphery or boundary of the event is kept within limits. The venue boundary wall will be erected out of tin sheets (sound-absorbing material) which prevents audio spillage beyond the periphery/boundary through acoustic isolation.
“The orientation of the stages inside the venue has been changed to the opposite direction where there is no residential settlement to prevent audio spillage. The height of the amplified speakers is reduced to ensure that there is no spillage of audio beyond the designated area of the venue. Additional ambient noise monitoring will be carried out for 16 hours (daytime) for identification of specific sources of noise due to background noise,” he also said adding that the organisers also propose to set up of online noise level monitoring system which is connected to the server of the GSPCB along with a display board along the periphery of the venue to display the noise levels recorded at the venue for the benefit of the public.
Meanwhile the state Advocate General Devidas Pangam told the High Court that the state action plan would be submitted before the Court on Thursday and a copy will be circulated before the petitioners by 12 noon.
