Noise clampdown should be done uniformly – GCCI President

Noise nuisance management

…says businesses will suffer

The Public Security Ministry’s efforts to clamp down on noise nuisance across the country by restricting the rights of businesses to play music has led to some serious concerns regarding whether this will be a fair process.
President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Deodat Indar, told Guyana Times that while he is not against this move, law enforcement officials should discharge their responsibilities in all fairness.
“If people are breaking the law (by) playing music to an unacceptable level of loudness, and are causing discomfort to the neighbours and people in the surrounding periphery, the Police have to enforce what the law is. What I’m hoping for is that whenever this does happen, it happens in an even manner, and not an uneven manner. If we’re going to enforce something, do it across the board. If we’re going to do it, I’m hoping that the Police, when they have to enforce a law,

they do it across the board,” Indar noted.
Since the campaign commenced on Thursday, a few prominent businesses have been left with no choice but to cease operations until the next day. The GCCI President insists that if these enterprises are operating for lesser hours, their incomes could be negatively impacted.
He explained, “If businesses are accustomed to opening at a certain number of hours to bring in revenue, and that number becomes shortened, it will obviously impact the business in a negative way. It will affect business, because if businesses get closed down for some reason or the other, it will affect consumption and it will affect the business community”.
Indar further stated that the 02:00h curfew that was established for businesses would have already affected many establishments, forcing some to close their doors because of various reasons. He indicated that concerns were raised about some being targeted while some have been given the preferential treatment.
“The 2 a.m. curfew had an impact on businesses, and some of them had to close down. My complaint to the Police at that time was that they were implementing the law or enforcing the law unevenly. Some people were being targeted and closing down at that time, while some were getting off with it.”
Junior Vice President of the GCCI, Timothy Tucker, had questioned the rationale of the Police when undertaking measures to ensure that the curfew is enforced. He said many GCCI members feel there is a double standard where enforcement is concerned.
“The observation of some of the members is that it’s not being done across the board; they feel there’s a double standard – that their bars are being shut down while others are not being shut down just outside of Georgetown,” Tucker was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Owner of Seeta’s Bar, Seeta Gosahai, explained that Police officers had visited her place business place on Station Street last Thursday evening, and she had been forced to close earlier that the normal time.
She asserted that only her establishment had been targeted, and other establishments where music was being played louder continued playing their music late into the night.
“One of them in the street does play louder than me, and they didn’t stop them. They pass all the bars in the street and come straight to me. If they doing a campaign, it supposed to be all over,” Gosahai said.
The distraught business owner claimed she was subjected to closing her bar early in the afternoon, and would do so for the coming days. This has put a pressure on her since expenditures are to be paid.
“We can’t do business now; look how much workers we have! We gotta pay GRA, rates and tax, and for the parapet now for City Council.”
On Thursday, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan posited that revoking the licences of some music operators is being looked at.
“We want to take the profit out of this illegal activity, and that means we must start after going through the procedures, ensuring that we can revoke some of the licences of these bars that play loud music, or the (carts) selling their video and their tape recordings…or the cars of people,” Ramjattan stated.
While he said the Police should target unlicensed operators, a majority of licensed businesses reportedly were visited by Police ranks. Push cart vendors have also protested against this move, since their livelihoods would be wiped out entirely. Market