Kodaikanal
During the mid-80s, the sleepy town of Kodaikanal woke up to commercialisation and well, noise. Worried, locals, school principals and doctors of the Indian Medical Association (ima), Kodaikanal branch, approached the police against the increasing noise levels. Disappointed with inaction, they complained to the Consumer Protection Association of Kodaikanal (cpak), recently formed in 1993, to cater to public grievances.
However, cpak lost this case in the Madras High Court in 1998, when the inspector of police proved in court that the area was noise free.
Fortunately, around this time, cpak received a favourable order from the Madras High Court. This was its second case filed by its individual member, Minoo Avari.
The interim order forced the inspector of police to control noise levels in the city. The authorities disallowed the use of cone speakers during local elections.
Another serious source of cacophony are religious performances in churches, mosques and temples. Ramraj Kumar, a doctor at the Van Allen Hospital, filed a petition in the Madras High Court against the illegal and unabated use of loudspeakers in religious places nearby, on the plea that the cacophony has an adverse effect on the performance of doctors and delays patients' recuperation. Another petition filed by V Rajeswari, registrar-in-charge of Mother Theresa Womens University pleads that the religious racket does not allow students to study and affects the performance of the teaching faculty.
However, religion and noise have become intimately intertwined. This mindset needs to be changed.
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