Residents of Charity protest noise nuisance

May 28, 2016 Letters

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Dear Editor,

We the residents of Charity and surrounding areas, serves to give attention to the authorities responsible for maintaining and safeguarding the rights of the Guyanese nation. It is truly disturbing to observe the number of letters and complaints appearing in the media regarding noise pollution. In the past administration more and more persons were and still being afflicted by this noise, and ironically, it seems as though our cries are falling on deaf ears. Though we have seen some action taken on the opening hours for bars with the new administration, we would like to also see positive action taken on the issue of noise nuisance in Charity. In the Charity district, there are two popular Hotel /Bar and Discos right under the nose of the Charity Police Station. There is a Catholic Church just across the road and a cottage Hospital not too far from one of these discos. These discos are a source of unrelenting pounding of loud music emanating from them.
Also on holidays permission is given to hold open air function on the car park tarmac and other open air buildings and so this adds to more thundering noise in Charity. It is difficult to comprehend how could the responsible authorities give permission to hold open air function with such large music boxes close to the places mention above and also residents living so close to these places? As if the constant banging is not enough, you have private cars, the owners who seem to be friends of the police, have powerful music systems that will play their music anytime during the day or night.
The owners of the discos and cars seem to have no respect for the residents of Charity and more so the Catholic Church and the patients of the Charity Cottage Hospital to enjoy the peace and tranquility of their surroundings. The Catholic Church has a children dorm where evening classes are held after school hours and the priest have made several complaints to the Charity Police Station about the noise affecting these classes and other religious activities, but his complaints have fallen on deaf ears.
It appears as though the owners and the workers of these places are now deaf and too damaged to even comprehend the agony which is faced by the residents of Charity when the loud music is played. It is almost fifteen years we are enduring this suffering and inspite of us over the past years made complains to the police and other relevant offices, nothing seems to have influence them to put a stop to this lawlessness. The owners of these discos seem to be above the law and seems to have had some level of influence with officials of the administration and members of the Guyana Police Force and so no positive or serious action was ever taken by the relevant authorities to stop this nuisance.
There is legislation in law which can be enforced to stop this lawlessness and we demand that this should be enforced so that residents not only in Charity, but throughout the length and breath of this nation could enjoy the peace and tranquility of their surroundings. It is not just frustrating and irritating, but very unhealthy for us to be exposed to this nuisance. Some of us have members of our family suffering with various kinds of illnesses and noise is definitely a detriment to the improvement of their health. It is totally unfair for hard working law abiding citizens to be persistently harassed by this issue.
The elderly, children and home owners are forced to endure this abhorrent hammering and pounding without any satisfactory measures taken by those in charge to alleviate their anguish. As recent as 2016-05-26 a complaint to the Charity Police Station about loud music at the Charity car tarmac, an officer has claimed that the Government has given permission to bars and other functions to operate until 4.00 am. and so the police cannot stop the people from playing their music loud, we are calling on the Commissioner of Police and the Public Security Minister to clarify this misconception about the 4.00am closing hours that people could play loud music during these hours so as to disturb residents living close to these bars and open air functions.
There are legislative laws to deal with this situation and it must be enforced to protect the Guyanese nation from this mental torture and anguish, don’t we have a right to enjoy the peace and comfort in our homes anymore. The law on noise pollution states clearly that music is allowed to be played at a controlled decibel levels fixed for various hours of the day and night and the police should be equipped with the instrument to deal with this situation. It is totally unfair for hard working and law abiding citizens to be persistently harassed by this issue We are appealing to this new Government administration to seriously look into this country wide problem of which you were given a mandate to correct.
Residents of Charity

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