Thousands of loudspeakers in religious places across Uttar Pradesh have either been taken down or their volume has been reduced to be within permissible limits as per government orders.
The order to remove all illegal loudspeakers from religious places was issued last week and districts have to submit compliance reports by April 30, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi told PTI.
This is the latest decision taken in Uttar Pradesh in the wake of violence in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri earlier this month and in the run-up to festivals of Eid and Akshay Tritiya that are likely to fall on the same day next month.
Earlier, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had also ordered that no religious procession should be taken out without permission.
A total of 6,031 loudspeakers have been removed and volume of 29,674 have been reduced across the state, according to reports.
Most loudspeakers were removed in Varanasi zone (1,366), followed by Meerut (1,215) and Bareilly (1,070) zones.
Loudspeakers have been taken down at Ayodhya’s Hanuman Garhi temple and Mathura’s Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi, whereas volume has been lowered at Gorakhpur’s Gorakhnath temple and Darul Uloom Firangi Mahal in Lucknow.
Firangi Mahal’s spokesperson Maulana Sufiyaan Nizami told India Today, “After the order of the government, loudspeakers were used in low volumes in the mosque and the dargah. At the same time, there should be no discrimination based on religion in following any kind of rule and it should be complied equally at every place.”
