BANGALORE: The recent Supreme Court order banning the use of loudspeakers and car horns at night in residential areas is expected to help citizens sleep more peacefully.

The season of festivals is about to start, and the organisers of celebrations who use public address systems, as during Ganesh Chaturthi, have to obtain permission from the police. The rules prevent the use of loud speakers beyond 10 p.m., but they are, more often than not, violated.

A senior police officer says: "The prohibition on noise is enforced near hospitals and schools, and if there are complaints, we can also ask festival organisers to switch off loudspeakers after 10 p.m. They too have to cooperate.'' Another complaint of residents in many areas is about fireworks during festival celebrations. Here too, police permission is necessary, but the rules are not always enforced.

The police are, however, doing something about the use of noisy car horns. In the second week of July, 1,030 drivers were booked for using noisy horns, which cannot be used within city limits according to the rules.

According to residents of neighbourhoods such as Indiranagar and Koramangala, the problem of noisy horn crops up mostly on weekend nights, and the police agree and point out that it could be linked to drunken driving. With nearly 50 breathalysers at their disposal, they say they will curb this along with "drag races" in areas such as M.G. Road.

During 2004, over 17,000 cases of drunken driving were booked, they say.

While the police are waiting for the details of the Supreme Court directions and trying to match them with existing local laws, they say that the Traffic Police Control Room (Ph: 103) is equipped to deal with complaints of noisy horns.

The people can also call Traffic Control East on Ph: 22943131 or Traffic Control West on Ph: 22943030 to register complaints.

Vehicles violating the ban on the use of "wind horns" and other shrill horns can be booked under the Motor Vehicles Act, the police say.

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