Apr 18: Maha Police permission is a must for all religious places now-onwards. In a very recent move, the state Home Minister, Dilip Walse-Patilhas on Monday said that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, has made it mandatory for all the the religious places of the state to have prior police permission, for using loudspeakers.
Walse-Patil said that a detailed notification on the proposal with the guidelines would be issued in the next couple of days by the home department.
Any unauthorized use of loudspeakers at all religious places or religious functions would invite strict punitive action against the violators, he added.
The MVA decision comes amid a raging controversy over the use of loudspeakers at mosques raked up last week by the Opposition Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) President Raj Thackeray and endorsed by activists of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Among other things, Raj Thackeray had issued an ‘ultimatum’ of May 3 to the state government to ensure all mosques’ loudspeakers are “silenced or dismantled”, failing which the MNS workers would blare out Hanuman Chalisa on loudspeakers outside mosques in retaliation, raising apprehensions of a law-and-order situation.
Under oppositions and ultimatum from various quarters, Raj Thackeay on Sunday has also clarified that he is opposing the use of loudspeakers for social and health implications for people not out of inhibitions to any religious activities and believes.
