The PIL states that Mumbai is the third noisiest city in the world. It stresses the need to conduct noise pollution mapping as part of Mumbai Urban Transport Project.
Bombay High Court on Thursday drummed up some noise to help curb noise pollution in the city. Hearing a PIL, filed by Awaaz Foundation, highlighting perils of rising levels of noise emanating from traffic and construction activities, HC directed the state to file an affidavit within two weeks, spelling out the preventive measures taken by it.
The PIL states that Mumbai is the third noisiest city in the world. It stresses the need to conduct noise pollution mapping as part of Mumbai Urban Transport Project and to fit sound barriers on new roads and flyovers passing through residential and silence zones.
Petitioner Sumaira Abdulali has sought strict implementation of Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules 2000, which makes it a statutory duty for the state to ensure that noise levels are kept within the prescribed limits in specified zones - residential, commercial and industrial.
The petition states that noise from vehicles, exhaust systems of trucks, buses, cars, autorickshaws and two-wheelers, in addition to the cacophony of horns, are polluting the city. Increased construction activity has added to the city’s woe, making it necessary to ensure that there are sound barriers at construction sites, silencers in construction equipment and prescribed noise limits for activities like drilling and stone cutting.
The Motor Vehicles Act has banned the use of multi-toned horns, which emanate noise exceeding 95 decibels, higher than the prescribed limit, in industrial zones. Reverse horns, which is sounded when a vehicle is backing up, too are banned.
While the law permits imposition of penalties and even seizure of violating vehicles, petitioner’s lawyer DJ Khambatta, citing information obtained under RTI in March 2006, said that the traffic police had not collected any fine for illegal horns. This despite 7,056 cases being registered between 2000 and 2006 for illegal honking and using reverse horns, added Khambatta.
The petition points out that faulty silencers are usually the cause of excessive engine noise. Violators need to be discouraged by imposing fines and confiscation of illegal horns. Also, police need to draw up a clear plan to curb noise pollution and ensure that citizens’’ complaints are addressed, adds the petition.
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