Sena denied permission to hold Dussera rally at Shivaji Park

Mumbai, May 24: The Shiv Sena-ruled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has denied permission to the Bal Thackeray-led party to hold its annual Dussera rally at Shivaji Park here.

Sena activist Diwakar Borkar had written a letter to the G-North ward office of the BMC on May 11, asking for permission to hold the Dussera rally.

"We replied to the application letter on May 20. We have rejected it, citing orders of Bombay High Court," an official from the G-North ward office told PTI.

The state government and the BMC had declared Shivaji Park as a silence zone following a direction from the Bombay High Court in a Public Interest Litigation filed by residents.

As per Noise Pollution Control Rules, 2010, noise level in such areas has to be maintained below the 50-decibel level.

This is the second year in a row that the party has had to face the heat while securing permissions to hold the rally at the historic ground.

In 2010, the party had obtained special permission from the court and had consulted sound experts to ensure that the 50-decibel (dB) cap can be met. It used sound barriers and insulators, creating these barriers from porous material, which acted as noise dampeners and set up a distributed sound system using multiple low-volume speakers.

PTI