Residents hit the roof over private helipads

The state government’s decision to allow private helipads atop residential buildings has evoked strong protests from citizens, who allege the move will lead to severe noise pollution, and that the poor track record of helicopters — between 2000 and 2005, 10% of all medical helicopters in the US crashed — poses a serious hazard in a densely populated city like Mumbai.

Social activist Sumaira Abdulali, a well-known anti-noise pollution campaigner, is fronting the initiative against helipads and heliports in the city. She has now launched an online petition, to be submitted to prime minister Manmohan Singh, demanding that the Union government direct the state to scrap the idea.

The petition has so far received 55 signatures from concerned citizens like Roshni Udyavar, head of the department of the Institute of Environmental Architecture at Rachana Sansad Academy of Architecture, transport expert Ashok Patankar, former MMRDA commissioner Dev Mehta, and Dr Altaf Patel, a consulting physician at Jaslok Hospital.

According to Abdulali, the government, while acknowledging in a hearing at the Bombay high court recently that helicopters are bound to make some noise, justified its decision to allow private helipads by stating, simply, that “the citizens must learn to bear the noise as helipads are an inevitable fact of life”. The statement had irked the judges, who refused to buy the argument and directed the state to file a fresh affidavit in the case.

“The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board recently measured noise from helicopters, and recorded 100-120 decibels during take off and landing,” said Abdulali, adding, “This noise will be in addition to the existing noise levels from road traffic, of 80-100dB, which is already higher than the prescribed 55dB limit in most areas.” Though the government has sanctioned helipads with a rider that they can be used only between 6am and 6pm, with no more than two landings or take offs a day, Abdulali points out that since the onus of regulation has been put on the owners instead of a state agency, these rules bear no meaning.

The public interest litigation (PIL), initiated by NGO Awaaz Foundation and others for implementation of noise pollution rules and guidelines, further alleges that the potential for accidents, security risks and adverse health effects of unbearably high noise levels caused by helicopters are unacceptable to residents. The petition adds that governments across the world are shutting down helipads in residential areas for similar reasons.

Abdulali says that while the Union government has recently made noise pollution rules more stringent, the state is trying hard to bypass them. She says that the state’s affidavit says that if noise levels from helicopters (and other noise sources) are maintained at an “average” of 55dB from 6am to 10pm, the noise rules will technically not be violated.