PUNE: A total of 989 loudspeakers have been installed without permission at establishments involving all religions across the city, revealed a study by the Pune police’s special branch against the backdrop of the ongoing row over the removal of amplifiers from places of worship.
However, 1,010 loudspeakers were found to have been installed after getting proper permissions.
A total of 1,784 religious establishments, including temples, mosques, gurdwaras, Buddha Vihars and churches falling under the jurisdiction of the Pune police, were covered during the study conducted by the special branch of the city police and local police stations.
“Our local police units will now visit the establishments that have installed unauthorised loudspeakers and will ask the authorities to either apply for fresh permissions (with conditions) or remove the loudspeakers,” a senior police officer said.
Deputy commissioner of police (special branch) Bhagyashri Navatake, however, refused to divulge much details on the study.
The officer said, “The religious places have installed speakers in two ways. There are speakers that cater to devotees sitting inside the religious place and there are other amplifiers to cater to the neighbourhood audiences. At many places, we found that the trustees or office-bearers of the religious places never sought permission to install the speakers.”
“The study revealed that some religious establishments have proper permission for speakers. Religious places located in the old parts of the city have speakers and such establishments use them regularly,” he added.
