Planning a wedding in Mumbai, Pune? Now you need pollution board nods too

New Delhi: If you are planning a wedding, add another item to tick off your check list — permissions from the state pollution board.
Wedding halls or lawns across Maharashtra cannot use loudspeakers or burst firecrackers without a specific written permission from either the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) or the police.
“The transport and police authority shall ensure sound systems are not used in silence zones,” a notification issued by the MPCB last week and released on their website on Tuesday reads.
Waste segregation on the premises into dry and wet (organic) was among the several instructions to owners of wedding lawns and halls — a move that comes after a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order on July 3 that directed the state pollution board to regulate activities at wedding premises under environmental guidelines.
“In case of unauthorized, haphazard dumping by wedding halls/lawns, they will be liable to pay Rs50,000 as an environmental cost, per incident to their respective civic body,” the notification read.
According to the notification, wedding halls and lawns need to apply for consent under environmental laws, including the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 to the regional officer, MPCB.
The NGT directions came after an application filed by Pune residents against the Pune civic chief, under another, original application and petition by Thane resident Dr Mahesh Bedekar’s against the state regarding noise pollution.
“Owners of marriage halls and lawns shall be responsible for compliance of all directions passed herein and shall be liable for legal action including prosecution by competent authority in case of non-compliance,” the NGT Pune bench of Justice U.D. Salvi and expert member Dr. Ajay Deshpande said.

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