KT Mythreyan
Chairman of 11th Road ALM
On Nov 4, the 11th Road ALM sent letters to all its members asking them to practise restraint while bursting crackers.
The ALM includes 31 buildings and bungalows and around 250 families.
KT Mythreyan, chairman of ALM and resident of Smriti building, says, The loud crackers disturb senior citizens and babies.
Stray dogs and pets also get frightened by the loud noise. We thought the least we could do is request our members to use restraint while bursting crackers.
He adds, Now that we have sent the letters we hope members will be slightly more aware about the problem.
The letter includes the bad effects of noise on senior citizens and dogs and requests residents to burst crackers between 6 pm to 9.30 pm.
Grecian Aroojis, joint secretary of the ALM, says, Many senior citizens live in this lane. Its a nuisance when people burst crackers throughout the day.
Adds Mythreyan, We want people to realise the importance of celebrating a noiseless Diwali. ALM officials say they were inspired to send the letter after they read the article Residents divided over use of bombs this Diwali in metro Nov 3-9.
Jyoti Kothari, who lives in a bungalow on 11th Road and runs a playschool, says, I think it is a good initiative by the ALM. My daughter is just one-and-a-half years old. Last year, during Diwali she was frightened by the loud sounds of crackers and used to get disturbed.
She adds, The 6 pm to 9.30 pm timing is fair as during that time most people are awake. But it will be peaceful only if people abide by the rule.
Vipul Hariyani, resident of Karuna building, shares the same opinion.
During Diwali one hardly gets any sleep as people burst crackers throughout the night. This is a good initiative by the ALM, if they are able to restrict celebrations to low-noise crackers, he says.
Raghunath Vasan, resident of Prasanna building, says, I personally like bursting crackers and I feel that Diwali is no fun without noise. But I also take care not to burst noisy crackers after 7.30 pm. He adds, I think this is a good effort being made by the ALM.
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What other ALMs think
Dr GB Shetty, secretary of Munjal Nagar ALM, says, We have not issued any notices so far. Anyway in our area we have instructed our watchman to stop children from bursting crackers after 11 pm. If they dont listen, we plan to personally request their parents. The issue then will also be taken up in the society meeting.
However, Sahas ALM has made no plans. RS Krishnan, a resident of Jeevan Bahar society and member of the ALM, says, We have not issued any such letters as there are people from many communities living in our society and its difficult to enforce such rules.
He adds, Children dont listen to us when they are playing cricket and we ask them to make less noise; they will not listen if we tell them to burst less noisy crackers. But I still think it's a good idea.
Number of families who are part of the ALM
31
Number of buildings and bungalows in the ALM Use water sparingly for house-cleaning: ALM
The ALM also also issued letters asking all its housing societies to use water carefully while cleaning their homes.
Mythreyan explains the reason. At the monthly ALM meetings at the BMC office we learnt that there is a general water shortage in all of Chembur which is why we requested our members to use water sparingly, he says. <
