Panaji: After police patrolling was intensified following high court directives to shut down all loudspeakers playing music on Narkasur revelry night on Saturday by 12am, in many locations in the state, groups of youth and police were seen clashing. In St Inez and in Panaji, youth groups were seen aggressively arguing with teams of police who had come to shut down the high-decibel music at midnight.Several citizens complained that in parts of Margao, Porvorim, and Mapusa, youth were seen continuing to play the loud music for some time despite the high court orders.In Panaji, a group of youth marched to the office of Panaji MLA Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate, which was shut as it was during the wee hours, and they sat outside the office in protest of the crackdown on loudspeakers.A group of Tonca youth turned up at the police station a day after Diwali demanding action against a PSI, stating that he had damaged their sound equipment during the crackdown.“The PSI Mahesh Kashinath Naik hit a lathi on our sound system display and broke it. The person from whom we had lent the sound system demanded damages from us. All of us collected the money from our pockets and had to pay for the damages. He has the right to ask us to shut down, but does not have any right to damage the equipment. We demand his suspension and that he pay for our losses. We had shut the music well within the time at midnight,” said one youth from the group.Locals in Aquem also said that music continued despite the high court orders, continuing the disturbance to residents.In Porvorim, at some locations, music was seen being played after midnight in spells, when patrolling police were not around.“I stay in Duler, Mapusa; there was a Narkasur in our area and there was such loud music that practically we had to close our ears. Our car was vibrating with noise. There were laser lights right on the main road. When we wanted to drive, we had to use a guard to obstruct the light so we could drive. While this continued after midnight, police acted in the Peddem area nearby and stopped the music,” said local Sanjay Vani.Residents said that even during the day, the music was being played at very high decibels, starting from 6pm, affecting the elderly, the ailing and those with disabilities like autism who cannot bear the constant loud noise.At Dattawadi, Mapusa, there were no police seen controlling the behaviour, said Riya Gaonkar.In other areas, though, like Colvale, Pernem etc., police carried out a strict watch and this shutting down of the music brought much-needed relief, said residents.A resident of Porvorim said that though music was halted by police at midnight, the sound of firecrackers that make a high-decibel sound was a major disturbance as these are stuffed inside the Narkasur effigy and go off all at once when it is burnt in the early hours of the morning around 4am when most residents are still asleep.Shrest Korgaonkar of Karaswadda, Mapusa, said that police had to confiscate equipment to stop the music from being played by the group of youth near their Narkasur effigy.
