Loudspeakers were removed from around 1,500 religious institutions across Bengal in two days as part of a police crackdown on pollution complaints. At least 1,279 mosques and 199 temples were ordered to remove loudspeakers for violating prescribed noise limits.
Senior police officers said action was being taken “uniformly across religious institutions”. Cops are nudging managements of places of worship to dismantle their public address systems and enforce noise norms in a first-of-its-kind drive in the state.
Under Bengal’s Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, the use of public loudspeakers during daytime (6 am to 10 pm) requires prior police permission, mandatory sound limiters, and strict adherence to 50-75 decibels. Several mosque and temple committee representatives told TOI that local police had verbally instructed them to remove loudspeakers, and there was no written order.
The majority of dismantling has happened in North Bengal, where 1,238 loudspeakers have been taken down from mosques and 117 from temples. The move follows a decision by the newly elected BJP government, in its first cabinet meeting, to enforce existing noise pollution rules in religious institutions.
West Bengal removes 1,279 mosque and 199 temple loudspeakers in two-day crackdown on noise pollution; police say action uniform across all religious institutions.
When decibels meet dharma, even devotion must keep its volume.
