Village bans loud music, crackers to check pollution

Amid deteriorating air quality levels and alarming sound levels in Gurugram, the residents of a village in the city have taken a decisive step to tackle environmental and social challenges in their area by deciding that no loud music will be played through DJ and crackers won't be burst.

The village elders of Hayatpur Village warned with a circular saying that a heavy fine will be levied on the residents who will defy the order.

The elders observed that through these indulgences, there was an increase in the incidents of misbehaviour by the residents along with rising pollution levels and requested that money saved from these activities should be used in other social welfare activities.

"In times when the city is facing with the problem of pollution and bad behaviour by the residents, we felt a step a must be taken to tackle these challenges at a panchayat level. Through consensus, we came to a decision that celebration for some cannot turn out to be uncomfortable and harmful for other residents. We, therefore, made youngsters in our village participate and appraised of the decision before going ahead, "said Narender Yadav, the Village Sarpanch (Head).

"We hope that the initiative taken by the village elders become successful so that the model can be replicated in other parts of the city too. Today, it has become a norm that people, in order to show off, want to play loud music throughout the night and burst crackers.

When you are tackling a major challenge of pollution, steps need be taken at the community level than from the government level," said Ajay Panch, the village resident.

The official figures now state that level of air pollution in Gurugram has even surpassed some of the most polluted areas in Delhi where the Supreme Court had banned the use of crackers in ceremonies last year.

Not only is the cyber city reeling under poor air quality levels but alarming sound levels in the city also continues to be a major problem.

Despite the National Green Tribunal (NGT) notice to Haryana Government over the sound pollution in Gurugram, high sound decibels continue to be a major irritant.

While the normal standards for sound decibels have been set at 60-70 decibels in context to Indian cities, the sound levels in Gurugram are high as 90-100 decibels.