Nagpur: Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) mechanism for reporting noise pollution is failing residents, with an architect informing Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court the civic corporation’s grievance portal does not even provide a complaint type under its ‘Noise Pollution’ category.Awantika Chitnavis, one of the petitioners in a bunch of PILs filed against rising noise pollution in the city, made the submission in an affidavit filed through counsel Ashutosh Dharmadhikari. She said she had personally attempted to use NMC’s online grievance system and found that while her first complaint was accepted, no action had been taken on it and its status continued to show ‘action under process’.Her subsequent attempt to lodge another complaint failed despite repeated efforts, she claimed. According to the affidavit, while filing a complaint under Environment Department, users can select ‘Noise Pollution’ as the sub-department, but no ‘complaint type’ appears under that category. The petitioner has annexed screenshots of the portal to support her contention.Chitnavis said the issue was particularly serious because the PIL concerns noise generated by construction activity, honking, firecrackers and other sources and their alleged impact on citizens’ health. The petition is connected with a suo motu PIL (No 16/2025), in which the court has previously dealt with noise pollution and its implications for the right to life under Article 21.The affidavit also cites case of 79-year-old Dhantoli resident Prabha Jog, who allegedly complained to Dhantoli police on Sept 6 that construction work in her area continued after 10 pm and beyond midnight.Chitnavis has annexed a copy of Jog’s complaint and alleged that despite earlier HC observations that construction activity should not be carried out between 8pm and 8am, authorities had failed to take effective action.“The so-called grievance redressal system initiated by NMC is not working properly,” Chitnavis stated in her affidavit, arguing that residents were being left without an effective mechanism to report violations.The petitioner also submitted a list of measures that, according to her, can be adopted by the corporation and police to control noise pollution from construction sites. She has urged the HC to direct the authorities to implement appropriate measures immediately.
