Probe against Sena for noise pollution at rally

A local court on Wednesday granted permission to the Mumbai police to conduct an enquiry under the Environment Protection Act against the organiser of Shiv Sena's annual Dusshera rally for flouting the noise pollution control rules.

The police had two days ago registered a case against Milind Bodkar, the organiser of the rally and two other party workers Anil Parab and Milind Vaidya under the Bombay Police Act for exceeding the 50 decibel noise limit, laid down by the Bombay high court, for the rally at Shivaji Park in central Mumbai on Sunday.

The police approached the Bhoiwada metropolitan magistrate seeking permission to conduct enquiry against the party workers under the Environment Protection Act.

"The court has granted us permission following which we have included sections of the Environment Protection Act in the First Information Report and will conduct investigations as per law," senior police inspector Suresh Unawane told PTI.
Under this act, the offender is liable to pay a fine of Rs 1

lakh or face imprisonment of up to five years.

The high court had on October 11, while granting the Shiv Sena permission to hold the rally at Shivaji Park, a declared silence zone, had directed them to abide by the noise pollution control rules.

As per the rules, the noise level cannot exceed 50 decibel in silence zones. The Shiv Sena, which has been holding the Dusshera rally at Shivaji Park for over four decades, had approached the court after police refused them permission to use loudspeakers as the area was declared as silence zone.

According to the police, the FIR also names Parab and Vaidya as they were the ones who had filed petition in the HC and had assured the court that they would not flout the rules.

Sena supremo Bal Thackeray at the rally launched his grandson Aditya Thackeray into politics anointing him as the head of the party's youth wing.