Mumbai, Jul 10 (NIE): The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited told the Bombay High Court on Monday that it would set up a toll-free number to receive complaints from public on exceeding noise limits at the Metro construction sites in the city. The division bench of Justices Abhay Oka and R I Chagla had last month asked the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) about the steps it had taken to set up a mechanism to address citizen grievances on noise pollution on metro sites.

On Monday, Advocate General A A Kumbhakoni told the court that a toll-free number would be set up for complaints for each of the eight Metro packages. The 33.5-km Metro corridor has been divided into eight civil packages for ease of construction and different contractors are responsible for their completion. The MMRC will also have an email id to file complaints and to get a response within 24 hours. The bench is hearing a plea filed by the MMRC to modify an order passed by the high court in August 2017, stating that no construction or ancillary activity can be carried out between 10 pm to 6 am.

The court heard submissions made by the MMRC and the contractor, Larsen and Toubro, on the noise levels at the Cuffe Parade Metro site.

The contractor’s counsel, S U Kamdar, submitted that as per the contract with MMRC, the metro construction will only add 10 decibels of noise to the existing levels.
He also referred to a previous report on the noise levels calculated over a week in some of the areas. The court suggested that the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) could measure ambient noise levels in the area for a month. It also sought information from MPCB on the procedures followed while recording noise levels. The court will continue to hear the matter on Tuesday.