Over the past few years, various efforts have been made by the residents of Bavdhan (residing near Chandani Chowk, Pune) to get their concerns regarding extremely heavy noise pollution caused by the immense traffic flow through one of the busiest Entry and Exit Points of Pune.

This area is traditionally a Residential Area with hundreds of families staying in and around Chandani Chowk. Studies of NHAI show that about 150,000 vehicles pass daily through this entry and exit point. The Highway, which has now become more of an internal road for Pune, is used by regular city traffic and Heavy Vehicles both at the same time throughout the day and night. Heavy vehicles are essentially passing through the City even in the middle of the night and the early predawn hours. Uncontrolled use of Fancy Horns, and the Steep Slope, which make the Heavy vehicles raise engines and exert pressure, have all added to the woes of Residents at Bavdhan.

The matter has further escalated with the growing traffic and because of the following –

1.    Earlier there was a 4 lane Highway. This has now increased to 6 Lane Highway + 2 additional roads on both sides serving as service roads. The road now touches the boundary walls of the residential societies like Saffron Avenue, Ramanadi cooperative Society, Kunal Belleza, Pristine Fontana, la valle casa

2.    The green cover protecting all residential societies from the highway (2 lanes green cover – planted by the original residents with trees older than 25-30 years) has been removed. (ORIGINAL GREEN COVER PHOTO GIVEN BELOW). We understand that permissions would have been taken from the green tribunal. But, we want to highlight the difficulties we are facing because we are now exposed directly to vehicular traffic.

3.   The highway now runs wall to wall with the society boundary walls. Considering the topography, the highway steeply rises towards Chandani Chowk. The photo below may give a better idea. Heavy Vehicles raise their engines and exert pressure to climb the slope, now passing a few feet away from the bedrooms of hundreds of Families. Even security-wise and privacy-wise, this is a matter of great concern.

4.   Uneven Road and potholes on both sides of the steep slope of the Highway giving rise to further air and noise pollution – vehicles going through the uneven road are causing vibration in buildings and of windows.

The road from Chandani Chowk (towards Mumbai) on the downhill side has developed many deep potholes and is uneven. This is throughout the patch on the opposite side between Kunal Belleza till Saffron Avenue Society., on the Southern side of the carriageway. When the trucks pass by on this road through the potholes and uneven road, they literally “bounce” on the roads. Heavy trucks like those carrying shipping containers, etc go down this road throughout the day and night (the heaviest traffic of container trucks being the middle of the night when the residents are sleeping). When they bounce on these roads, the windows of the nearby buildings and the buildings themselves rattle and shake. The noise is heard across the area in societies that are even 100m away from the road. The situation is unbearable for the Societies right along the highway. Residents, many of whom are senior citizens are finding it difficult to sleep at night.

Complaints have been raised through phone calls, letters, presentations, emails, and Twitter. We have received acknowledgment even from the Central Pollution Control Board, who via Twitter has requested the National Highway Authority of India to take cognizance of the complaint. We have made suggestions to the NHAI to install noise barriers. This has been done by the NHAI in many other places. The residents have followed up with various authorities for more than a year now.

We wish to be able to sleep peacefully at night and breathe unpolluted air. The highway runs next to the boundary wall of all the residential societies. Heavy vehicles and container trucks make tremendous noise at all times, including late at night and early morning. These vehicles are also spewing noxious polluting gasses continuously.

There are three specific requests that the 7/8 societies in the line have –

1.      Relaying of the main highway maintained by Reliance Infra (it has not been relayed for more than 10 years now and is uneven and course)

2.      The traffic has increased many folds and therefore a retaining boundary wall (3 ft or so) would help to stop the noise at the source

3.      Noise Barriers (with proper and sufficient height) along the stretch

On behalf of Residents of Bavdhan

Affected Societies - Rama Nadi Cooperative Housing Society, Saffron Avenue, Kunal Belleza, Pristine Fontana, La Valle casa

Bavdhan, Pune 411021.