04 June,2010 07:43 AM IST | | Anshuman G Dutta
The question residents of Vasant Kunj are asking after the Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to bring down noise levels at the international airport.
Representative photo
"I don't know how the DGCA and Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) will bring down noise levels of an aircraft engine while flying over Vasant Kunj. The real problem lies with the way in which the DIAL constructed the runway near the colony in complete violation of international aviation norms," said Anil Sood, president of Chetna, an NGO, and the petitioner in the case.
Sood had filed an appeal in the Delhi High Court seeking intervention to find a solution for the unbearable noise, which has been affecting the residents of the posh south Delhi locality. The High Court directed the DGCA to take immediate steps to bring down the noise levels within the airport as per the international norms. The court also snubbed the DGCA for seeking two years to bring down the decibel level and asked it to take immediate measures to improve the system.
The problem started after the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) commissioned runway 11 and 29, both of which are located too close to the residential colonies of Vasant Kunj, Dwarka and Pushpanjali Enclave. The argument given by the DGCA and DIAL for using the two runways was that it needed to repair runway No. 28. The court, meanwhile, allowed respite to the DGCA till runway 28 becomes functional, allowing night landings on the two runways.
However, the residents are not amused. "The permissible noise level on the airports are 55 to 45 decibels (day/night) but at present the noise level remains between 72 to 98 decibels. I don't foresee any solution even after the court's order as there is no way to bring down the noise of an aircraft," Sood said.
The extremely noisy airport is adversely affecting the health of the people living in the area, residents claimed. "Upper floors of all the buildings shake when big aircrafts fly and take off. Apart from the residential area there are hospitals and schools in the locality which are also suffering from the extreme noise pollution," said president of Vasant Kunj Resident's Welfare Association (RWA) ENK Krishnan.
"Nobody consulted us before constructing the two runways. We lodged our protest only when they became operational. The DGCA and DIAL officials had promised that runways 11 and 29 would be used for day
| Fasten your seat belts |
| Indira Gandhi International Airport is among the busiest airports in the country and on an average it handles 750 take offs and landings per day. While the airport initially was planned on the outskirts of the Capital, in the last five decades the city grew around it and now it is surrounded by residential colonies on all sides.u00a0 |
