A group of 258 residents of the Defence Housing Authority have gone to court to complain about the increased noise and pollution level due to traffic diversion in their neighbourhood.
The residents of 26th Street cited an Sindh Environment Protection Authority (Sepa) report, which says that the level of noise in the area is above the recommended level.
Based on a two-day record of noise and air pollution levels on 26th Street, the report said that carbon monoxide emission from vehicles due to traffic congestion is 7.57 mg/m3. Similarly, the noise levels were also calculated at 81.2 dB(a) and 79.6 dB(a), when the standard level is 55 dB(a). These high noise levels can cause permanent hearing losses, argued the residents' lawyer, Barrister Farogh Naseem.
Barrister Naseem informed the Sindh High Court bench that a company prepared this report on Sepa orders, after the controversy around the construction of flyovers by Bahria Town emerged. Naseem pleaded that court restrain the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) from violating the recommendations made by Sepa following this report.
He pointed out that the Sepa had observed that all mitigation measures recommended in the Initial Environmental Examination report and the mitigation plan must be complied with so that there are no negligible impacts on the environmental and socio-economic value of the area.
The court was also pleaded to declare the noise and carbon emission level as more than average, and order the installation of diversion signs on 26th Street to reduce the nuisance.
After the preliminary hearing, the bench issued notices to the DHA administrator, the Cantonment Board Clifton's CEO and Sepa's director-general for October 17. "Till the next date, the defendants are restrained from violating such recommendations/decisions of Sepa," ordered Justice Shafi Siddiqui, who headed the single bench.
Khy-e-Shamsheer, Mujahid case
The group of residents who have complained of the noise levels added this recent complaint to another case they were already pursuing in court. That case was about the conversion of Khayaban-e-Shamsheer and Khayaban-e-Mujahid as one-day.
The plaintiffs' attorney, Iran Merchant, had submitted that the DHA had converted Khayaban-e-Shamsheer and Khayaban-e-Mujahid into one-way tracks. The residents had challenged the decision before the Sindh High Court, which had declared the diversion as illegal and ordered the authority to restore the previous status of the roads as dual carriageway.
Subsequently, the DHA management appealed against the SHC's decision in the Supreme Court. The apex court has granted interim stay against the high court's judgment, which is why the two main roads continue to stay one-way.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 5th, 2014.
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