Festivals are special occasions for children. But Namrata Sinha, a 28-year-old master of business administration and a resident of Bihar's capital Patna, complains that her child has sleepless nights and becomes quite irritable during Durga Puja, a major Hindu festival in this part of India. She blames the noise made by loudspeakers used during the puja. She says there should be a ban on the use of loudspeakers, at least at night.

Every year during Durga Puja, Patna sees 250-300 small and big puja pandal s (tents pitched for people to come together and celebrate). More or less every pandal has loudspeakers, music systems and other sound-emitting devices.

The results of an opinion survey conducted to gauge the public perception of the noise pollution nuisance during Durga Puja by a team led by Chandrawati, former head of the post-graduate department of environmental sciences at the A N College, Patna, threw up some interesting figures. They distributed questionnaires and received 445 responses. It showed that 64 per cent of the respondents had experienced problems like headache, tiredness, sleeplessness and irritability. Three in every four respondents wanted a ban on loudspeakers during Durga Puja. An overwhelming 85 per cent believed that there should be restrictions on the pitch of loudspeakers. While 29 per cent thought that a ban on loudspeakers would hurt religious sentiments, more than 62 per cent thought that it would not (see table: Speaking out loud ).

It is indeed quite surprising that loudspeakers are used despite the fact that so many people think it is a nuisance. It is quite clear that when it comes to religious issues, people are not willing to raise an objection even to a public health nuisance.

Ashok Kumar Singh, a researcher at the Science College in Patna, suggests replacing loudspeakers with good quality sound boxes. He stresses that there should be a control on the pitch of noise and a total ban on noise at night.