Editor,
Through the columns of your esteemed daily, I would like to once again draw attention – though by now it feels utterly pointless – to an issue that has been deliberately ignored by the authorities for the fifth or sixth time.
For years, the shameless municipal board has been torturing residents by blasting a loud, annoying, and downright filthy-sounding jingle through its garbage collection vehicles and public announcement systems. What might have started as a cleanliness awareness campaign has now become a daily act of public harassment. The same obnoxious jingle is played with zero volume control or no consideration for students, infants, hospital zones, or anyone with a functioning nervous system.
Residents are not requesting – we are demanding that this noise pollution stop immediately. But judging by the authorities’ repeated silence and lack of response, it seems they either enjoy annoying the public or are completely disconnected from ground reality.
And seriously, if they had even a trace of common sense, they would know how to discern a good sound from a bad one, or a peaceful voice from an irritating screech. It would be better for them to replace it with the soothing melodious voices of Sonu Nigam, Alka Yagnik, or Shreya Ghoshal, instead of this hellish voice they currently use, which honestly feels like it’s going to shatter our eardrums.
In fact, it’s high time that student unions or local youth bodies step in and demand that the jingle be replaced with a softer instrumental version, or a recording by a talented local singer from our own state – something that informs without irritating, and promotes awareness without assaulting the public’s peace of mind.
Enough is enough. This is no longer about awareness. This is about a completely tone-deaf administration that seems more interested in broadcasting chaos than promoting cleanliness. Fix it, or be prepared to face more public backlash. We are not deaf yet – but if this continues, we soon might be.
Kaling