Panaji: For several years now, residents, especially those living along Goa’s coastal belt, have been complaining of noise rules violations by restaurants and nightclubs. Since Sep last year, the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) stepped up its monitoring, carrying it out round-the-clock, following high court directives.Now, GSPCB data shows that over the past five months, there have been 750 exceedances observed by the board’s noise monitoring cell through the online noise monitoring systems installed at 38 establishments along the coast. Apart from this, 50 public complaints have been received from Sep by the board, and 135 more on the noise monitoring 24×7 helpline announced by GSPCB recently.The board, at its recent meeting, noted that the GSPCB has written to the district collectors to verify whether 28 establishments which were found playing music in the open had permission to do so.Board officials also said that GSPCB has started carrying out surprise inspections and 26 such visits have been carried out recently.Since Oct, three letters have also been written to the police to inform the GSPCB about the action taken on the complaints forwarded to the police. The police have been told that the board staffers can be utilised a witnesses in the cases wherever required for action.The central noise monitoring cell at the GSPCB office in Saligao informs police and the district collector concerned when any noise exceedance is noticed, “to identify the source of the noise pollution and the persons responsible and for initiating necessary action as per the law”. The police are sent an email as well as informed through a telephone call for immediate action.The GSPCB noted at its meeting that recently, it has also asked the state revenue secretary to call a meeting of the district collectors and superintendents of police to ensure that action is initiated after the intimation.The board has begun the process of getting establishments to pay environmental compensation wherever there is a violation.As per high court directives, a noise mapping study and plan for Goa is in the process of finalisation of the board. At present, officials have raised queries with the agency Envirotech Instruments over the report findings. Once the report is finalised, the board plans to accordingly ask more establishments to install noise monitoring systems based on the findings.The board is also in the process of finalising a more durable and accurate noise monitoring system as compared to the present high-cost one.
