State to get 36 new noise monitoring stations, but citizens won’t have access to data

The list of 36 new proposed monitoring sites is being finalised, and includes places across residential, commercial, industrial and ‘silence’ land-use categories. Sixteen of these sites will be present in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), with four new monitors each in Vasai-Virar, Kalyan-Dombivali, Thane and Navi Mumbai.

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has proposed to install 36 new real-time ambient noise monitors in urban areas across the state this year, under Phase-II of the Centre’s National Ambient Noise Monitoring Network (NANMN).

Mumbai, India - October 18, 2019: - Firecrackers testing for Diwali at RCF Ground, Chembur organised by MPCB and Awaaz Foundation, Mumbai, India, on October 18 2019. (Photo by Aalok Soni/ Hindustan Times) (Aalok Soni/HT PHOTO)

However, the MPCB officials clarified that they do not have any plans to publish this data in the public domain unlike how one can access real-time information about air pollution.

“Under Phase-I of the NANMN, five monitors were installed in Bandra, Wadala, Thane, Vashi and Mahape in 2019. Data from these is sent directly to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). There is no public record. The CPCB may create a website where citizens can see the numbers, as they do with AQI data, but we do not have this mandate at a state-level,” said a sub-regional officer at the MPCB, who spoke anonymously.

This has led some to question the purpose of expanding the NANMN. “Noise is hard to control in Mumbai, but collecting data in a transparent manner is essential to understand where the problem is acute, and secondly, to study the effect of noise on human health,” said Sumaira Abdulali, director of the Awaaz Foundation, which has been monitoring noise levels in Mumbai for over a decade.

The list of 36 new proposed monitoring sites is being finalised, and includes places across residential, commercial, industrial and ‘silence’ land-use categories. Sixteen of these sites will be present in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), with four new monitors each in Vasai-Virar, Kalyan-Dombivali, Thane and Navi Mumbai.

“In 2016, the Bombay high court had recognised the serious impact of noise pollution on civic life and instructed the government to implement the Noise Pollution Rules (2000). Installation of new noise monitors is welcome because it will generate data, but there’s no point in doing this only to be seen as complying with court orders. Concerned citizens, experts, and the public need to have access to the numbers,” Abdulali added.

Empirical studies in the recent past have highlighted the prevalence and impact of noise pollution in Mumbai and surrounding areas. In October 2015 and September 2016, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) mapped decibel levels at 740 locations across Greater Mumbai and found that most of the locations recorded an average noise level of 75dB during the day and 65dB at night.

The prescribed threshold for residential zones is between 55dB and 50dB in the day, and 45dB and 40dB at night. Despite this, in June 2016, the civic body allowed construction work to proceed for four more hours beyond the earlier deadline of 6pm, in the interest of “ease of doing business”.

Another attempt to quantitatively assess ambient noise levels in the region was made in 2020 by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) across nine municipalities: Greater Mumbai, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Kalyan-Dombivli, Mira-Bhayandar, Navi Mumbai, Panvel, Thane, Ulhasnagar and Vasai-Virar.

Of the 153 locations, scattered across commercial, industrial, residential and silence zones, noise levels in 36 commercial zones were found to range between 75 dB and 90 dB on average during the daytime, which is significantly more than the 65 dB limit. NEERI monitored 48 residential locations, observing that “noise levels at all the residential sites are exceeding the daytime noise limit and nighttime noise limit... both to an enormous extent.”

Another study from October 2018, by researchers at the S.S. Dighe College of Science in Bhandup, demonstrated the impact of noise pollution from trains on students living in close proximity (1-2km away) to railway lines.

Noise levels were assessed near Bhandup railway station for a period of six months, during which two groups of volunteers (10 each) were selected for monitoring of sleep patterns. Researchers noted that, on average, residents living close to the station were subjected to dangerous noise levels between 88-108dB every time a train entered or left Bhandup station.

“Ninety percent of the students in the experimental group showed sleep deprivation, whereas in the control group sleep deprivation was observed only in 10% of students,” the study noted.