Nagpur CP reprimands Ambazari inspector, fines beat marshal Rs 500 over unrecorded noise complaint

Failure to keep a record of action taken on a noise pollution complaint has cost the Ambazari police inspector dearly. The Nagpur Police Commissioner has reprimanded the inspector and fined a beat marshal Rs 500 for not recording the action.

The lapse came to light on Tuesday, when the city police filed affidavits before the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court. The affidavits were filed in several public interest litigations concerning noise pollution, the use of illegal firecrackers and modified silencers on vehicles.

The High Court had sought a separate affidavit from the Ambazari police inspector, who was to explain how a complaint received on the Noise Free Nagpur portal on October 11 was handled. The complaint is said to have concerned excessive noise coming from a construction site. The action taken was not properly recorded, so the court had to intervene and departmental disciplinary action followed.

The affidavit on behalf of the Police Commissioner was filed by Sandeep Pakhale, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Branch), in response to the High Court's order of October 30. The court had sought details on several violations, including bursting of firecrackers on roads, use of firecrackers louder than the prescribed limit of 55 decibels, illegal modified silencers, and the system of licensing firecracker sellers.

On firecracker pollution, the police told the court that a public notice issued on September 15 asked sellers, shopkeepers and wholesalers to sell only green firecrackers. The direction is based on the National Green Tribunal's order of November 9, 2020 and a letter from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board. The board has placed Nagpur among cities with moderate air pollution.

The police have also tightened rules on temporary firecracker licences. Such licences will not be granted in crowded and sensitive places such as Sitabuldi Main Road, Mahal Chowk, the Mayo Hospital area and Gokulpeth Market. The sale and use of firecracker strings is also banned. According to the affidavit, licence holders have been bound under condition number 15 to follow the Supreme Court's directions.

Violations continued despite these restrictions. The police told the court that action has been initiated against 10 people under Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for breaching licence conditions. The department has held about 363 awareness programmes. People can report violations to the police control room's round-the-clock helpline, 9823300100. Messages on the lawful use of firecrackers and the restrictions have also been sent to social media groups.

In a separate affidavit, Aditya Mirkhelkar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), described action against vehicles with illegally modified silencers. Such silencers add to noise on the city's roads. According to the affidavit, six cases were registered at Sadar police station in September and October over incidents in the Civil Lines area. The cases are under Sections 5 and 15 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

The traffic police destroyed 372 modified silencers seized between January 1 and September 5. They were crushed under a road roller on September 5 so that the seized items could not be fitted to vehicles again. Mirkhelkar said, "The unauthorised modified silencers were destroyed to render them useless and to prevent their reuse or refitting in vehicles."

With these affidavits, the city's enforcement machinery is now under the court's watch. The High Court has sought concrete details of preventive measures, action on the ground and accountability. The action on the Ambazari complaint also makes clear that records must be properly kept and that public complaints must not go unheard or unrecorded.