Your alarm clock wakes you up at 80 decibels. The sound of your whisper is 20 decibels. The sound of a pin dropping or a person breathing is 10 decibels. Then, there is the upper limit at which loudspeakers can be used in Uttarakhand – 5 decibels.
Aimed at dealing with the menace of noise pollution, the Uttarakhand High Court issued an order on Tuesday, 26 June, stating that loudspeakers cannot be used without a written undertaking and “the noise level shall not exceed more than 5dB (A),” the Hindustan Times reported.
“The loudspeaker cannot be permitted to be used without a written permission from the authority even by temples, mosques and gurudwaras,” HT quoted the court order.
The division bench of the HC further asked the state government to ensure that “loudspeakers or public address systems are not used except between 10 pm to 12 midnight during any cultural or religious festive occasion,” The Times of India reported.
The bench, headed by justices Rajiv Sharma and Lok Pal Singh, also asked the police to keep a check on honking in “silence zone or during the night time between 10 pm to 6 am in residential areas, except during public emergency,” the TOI report further said.
After this order, perhaps, Sonu Nigam would consider moving to Uttarakhand.
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