The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the state to consider a technology called ‘noise mapping’ which could act as strategic tool to know the silent, residential and high construction zones.
A division bench of Justices Abhay Oka and A.A. Sayed was hearing a bundle of petitions and public interest litigations (PILs) tagged together on noise pollution in the city. The petitions raised concerns about issues like temporary structures being erected for religious observances causing enormous inconvenience to public and the non-implementation of noise pollutions rules. One of the PILs is about noise levels being constantly higher than prescribed levels and the use of loud speakers and firecrackers in silent zones. The NGO Awaaz Foundation, which had filed its petition at HC in 2007, argued for the need to measure noise pollution by construction activity and traffic.
While dictating the order on the third day of the hearings, the court said, “we propose to issue directions to the State government to consider noise mapping and give direction to planning authorities like Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to finalise the development plan.” The bench said that the State must produce a map of silent zones, residential zones and high construction zones and develop the noise mapping that needs to be conducted of the city, and that this noise map would be an important strategic tool for planning infrastructural projects in the city.
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On existing noise pollution, the court reiterated its earlier stand that there should be no fire crackers and use of horns in silent zones. The order directs the authorities that as soon as there is a complaint of a noise pollution violation, the information should be sent to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board and district collectors.
The MMRDA stand taken at the HC was that mapping cannot be done while construction activity is on. In 2009, the Ministry of Environment and Forest had also said that noise mapping is unlikely to be done in urban areas. The necessary infrastructure had already been procured and the government had bought 88 noise mapping machines in 2005.
The court was informed that 1843 sound-measuring meters the requires would be procured only be end of September, after the Ganesh festival. The court remarked that the State government’s approach is “very casual.”
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The order will continue to be dictated on August 16, after Independence Day.