Sumaira Abdulali recounts her fight against noise pollution

Sumaira Abdulali

In most countries, noise is recognised as a health hazard and efforts are made to keep it within limits. And, according to recent Central Pollution Control Board data, Mumbai is the noisiest city in the world. So, to bring it down is going to be a long battle because the awareness level about noise pollution in India is abysmal.

I began my campaign against noise pollution in 2002, with a public interest litigation (PIL) against an amendment to the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000—allowing noisy loudspeakers to continue until midnight. The PIL was inspired and guided by my uncle, Saad Ali, who had been working for several years for effective legislation against noise pollution along with Dr Yeshwant Oke and Dr Prabhakar Rao. Thanks to their combined effort the noise rules were first notified in 2000, but there was no enforcement mechanism or awareness among authorities or citizens on the need to enforce them.

Since I had no experience with legal intervention, I began hesitantly with my uncle’s guidance, but soon realised that a PIL can be a very powerful tool, when used along with the Right to Information (RTI) Act, citizens’ campaigns, awareness and advocacy with government. In 2003, we had our first breakthrough by way of a court order to enforce ‘Silence Zones’, and to compel the police to set up a dedicated telephone number to receive citizens’ complaints. Although this empowered people to complain about noise, it didn’t really help. In the next few years, I realised that without dedicated guidance, citizens would soon lose their fight against noise pollution.

I then realised that it was time to set up an NGO to take up noise related issues in a more systematic manner, to partner with other NGOs and also conduct awareness programmes in schools and colleges. Awaaz Foundation, thus, came into existence. Once this happened, I also began to record area-wise noise levels to create the first database on environmental noise in the country. A little later, state-level pollution control boards (PCBs) have also started recording environmental noise.

These days, Mumbai leads the war against noise in India. Unfortunately, it is still an uphill task to get politicians and law-enforcing authorities to recognise the ill-effects of allowing a free rein to a few raucous people. My goal is to work towards uniform enforcement of noise rules so that the majority of citizens, who enjoy peace and quiet (and are guaranteed this under Constitutional law) are able to enjoy these rights without being deafened by excessively noisy firecrackers or loudspeakers which are part of our social gatherings and ‘enjoyment’.

Unfortunately, one person’s enjoyment may have serious effects on a large number of others, including death. Traffic and untrained drivers who honk unnecessarily even in residential areas or Silence Zones are a continuous source of noise. Often, people deliberately fit vehicles with horns that are beyond safe decibel levels; auto-rickshaws tamper with silencers to get a slightly better fuel efficiency and motorcyclists do it for a lark. It is the job of the regional transport office (RTO) to ensure that drivers learn basic traffic discipline before getting a licence and to make sure that vehicles have functional silencers and do not use high-decibel/multi-tone horns such as reverse horns (which are triggered while backing up). But, as we all know, this rarely happens.



Although Awaaz Foundation’s PIL on traffic noise is still pending in the Bombay High Court, there have been other successes. We held the first ‘No Horn Day’ along with the Mumbai Traffic Police in 2008; this  has been replicated in several other cities. Maharashtra has also amended the development control rules (after our PIL) to make noise barriers a mandatory part of new flyovers in Mumbai. Last year, the union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) also accepted all our recommendations and amended the noise pollution rules to make them more stringent. They now cover traffic and construction noise for the first time. The MoEF set up a National Noise Monitoring Network which will initially record noise levels at fixed locations in seven cities across India. While these are good beginnings, they are not enough on their own.

Noise-mapping is the preferred method to inform governments and citizens about existing and projected noise levels in the EU (European Union) cities. The ‘Noise Mapping England’ project is complete in many cities of the UK including London and is carried out by Defra (the department for environment, food and rural affairs) using LIMA, a noise-mapping software. (Visit http://services.defra.gov.uk/wps/portal/noise for more details.)

Indian cities can benefit from noise-mapping as they are among the noisiest in the world and inadequate data is a severe impediment to noise reduction. Current data, including that generated by the National Noise Monitoring Network, PCBs (pollution control boards) and non-government organisations, are physically monitored and represent specific times and locations. They have a limited capacity to predict future noise levels and integrate noise into city-planning measures and/or long-term noise-reduction measures. The LIMA software uses data like population density and traffic patterns and road widths to predict existing and future noise levels across the city. It can predict noise levels when changes are made to existing land use such as adding a flyover or a heliport and also predict the number of people who would be affected. Awaaz Foundation, which has been recording noise levels in Mumbai since 2003, recommended noise-mapping of Mumbai to the government of Maharashtra in 2006. In response, the government has conducted a pilot study near Sahar Airport, the first step towards creating a noise map. It should be speeded up—noise in our cities is galloping out of control.

Controlling noise in Mumbai without a noise map is comparable to controlling land use without a map. The MMRDA (Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority) is revising Mumbai’s development control (DC) plan in 2013 and this would be an ideal time to integrate a noise map into the new DC plan. Noise-mapping has the potential to be replicated in other Indian cities and become a useful planning tool in the rapid growth of metropolitan areas. New infrastructure projects should have noise reduction as an integral part of the plan, during the construction phase and final use, including realignment of proposed new road and rail projects, if necessary. New airports should be planned in accordance with noise parameters, including zoning restrictions. Additional sources of noise (such as helipads atop, or in close vicinity to, residential buildings) should not be permitted in already noisy areas. The draft Firecracker Rules of the Mumbai Police (submitted to the Bombay High Court in 2009) should be notified immediately. The government should organise community Diwali celebrations and gradually phase out private use of firecrackers (apart from a few crackers which are less polluting and safe for use). Noisy and dangerous crackers on public roads and in private residential societies should not be permitted.

The noise-mapping study should be carried out immediately and its recommendations integrated into the new DC plan of Mumbai and, subsequently, in other Indian cities.