Hitesh Shah doesn’t remember the last time in about a month-and-a-half when he didn’t wake up from bed muttering curses under his breath. Blame his — and several other residents’ — foul mood on the marriage revelry incessantly playing out at the nearby Mumbai Hockey Association (MHA) ground. Throw in constant blaring of music, halogens and floodlights together and you have a recipe for sleeplessness and stress.
“Ever since the wedding season started, almost every day, there is a marriage on the ground,” says Shah, who lives at Agarwal House on the road.
The MHA has been renting out for marriages a ground adjacent to the one where matches are played, which is bang opposite Agarwal House and Jayant Mahal on D Road. Residents had protested in the past against the noise from such events. “The problem is that the wedding music is played for at least an hour or so. Sometimes, organisers burst crackers as well,” alleges Nayan Parikh, a resident of Jayant Mahal.
Residents who wanted the day to end, hoping that it would spell the end of all the revelry found that it was all wishful thinking. Come nights, and weddings receptions begin, points out Ramesh Bubna, a resident of Lakshmi Bhavan, a building further down the road.
Shah says in the last four to five days, the MHA has allowed the use of floodlights all through the night. “We cannot sleep even after drawing out curtains.”
Another resident, Om Prakash Agarwal, reveals that the locals had offered to pay the MHA the same as wedding organisers to let them park their cars on the ground instead. “But, they did not agree to it.”
As if floodlights themselves were not nuisance enough, Tuesday night saw some more lights being put up. “That made it difficult to even stand on the balcony,” says Shalu Ahuja of Agarwal House. Another resident, Anil Bhatia, says the police fined one marriage party only after repeated complaints.
The MHA and the Marine Drive police, however, claim that the problem is not as grave as it is made out to be. “We have stopped wedding processions, playing of loud music and bursting of crackers whenever they have taken place. The last time, we also fined one (group). Whoever says we are not acting should come and talk to us. We do not sleep on complaints,” says Z Gharal, senior inspector of Marine Drive police station.
Gurbax Singh Grewal, honorary secretary of MHA, says, “Weddings have been HELD there for the last 50 years. The lights were on as they are new and needed to be tested. If they can’t bear this, they can complain.”
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