Chandrakona (West Midnapore): Residents of over 100 villages in West Midnapore's Chandrakona-I block have decided not to play DJ speakers at soirees or pujas following an awareness campaign by the local administration after the death of a heart patient blamed on such ear-splitting noise.

DJ sound boxes, or speaker systems, have a range of up to 250 decibels - about four times the legal limit.

The administration has during its awareness campaigns with the help of gram panchayats and the panchayat samiti highlighted the death of the 60-year-old man six months ago. Speakers from a puja had been blaring then.

Family members alleged Sankar Gain, who had heart problems, died because of the loud music from DJ speakers in their Manikkundu village.

Officials then launched the awareness campaign in every village. Till then, individual complaints to police about noise pollution had not yielded results.

Earlier this month, the six gram panchayats in the block and local NGOs adopted separate resolutions and submitted them to the block development officer, saying DJ speakers would no longer be used in the villages.

Deputy chief of Manoharpur gram panchayat, Ranajit Chakraborty, said: "We have decided not to use DJ speakers and resolved not to allow others in Chandrakona to use them. If we find anyone using these speakers, we will stop him."

A retired schoolteacher of Kalikapur village, Saroj Kumar Ghosh, said the "elderly were unable to take the nuisance". "We hope there will be some reprieve. Police complaints have fallen on deaf ears. We hope these attempts will work," Ghosh said.

The block development officer of Chandrakona-I, Abhishek Misra, said he had heard about complaints against sound systems a number of times during his 10-month stint.

West Midnapore SP Alok Rajoria said "these devices had been banned a number of times".

"But (the problem in) far-flung villages is hard to control. We will support any awareness drive or effort."