Mumbai: Construction noise leads to brawl at Dadar Parsi Colony

Resident Vipul Mehta shows the injuries he suffered during the scuffle

Repeated arguments between the residents of Dadar Parsi Colony and members of Sahaj Developers, who are re-developing a building in the area, turned into a full-fledged scuffle on Saturday morning. One resident, 57-year-old Vipul Mehta sustained injuries to his back and arm during the scuffle. The argument allegedly broke out over noise pollution due to the ongoing construction work.

No sound solution
According to Mehta, resident of Rekha Sadan in Dadar Parsi Colony, the workers in the building across the road started making a lot of noise on Saturday morning. Frustrated, he decided to bring up the matter with site supervisor Vishal Vora.

"The verbal argument turned physical and three of their men started beating me up. More workers ganged up and they threw me on the road and thrashed me for 10 minutes. It stopped only after my son and our neighbours intervened," he said.

The ongoing construction work by Sahaj Developers at Dadar Parsi Colony. Pics/Atul Kamble

His 28-year-old son, Sahil claims he was shoved around as well. "We have had this problem for over two years. Though the permissible limit is 55 decibels, we have measured the noise they make on mobile applications, and it is always between 70 and 90 decibels. We have approached the police several times, but they don't do anything beyond a point," he said.

His father added that the problems had worsened in the past few months as the workers now deliberately make more noise to harass them. "Since we complained against them and the police have come several times, they drop pipes and metal boards loudly just to annoy us. They begin work as early as 6 am and sometimes till as late as 2 am," says Mehta.

'Workers stare into our homes'
The aggrieved residents have formed a group on WhatsApp and approached the F North ward officials and the area's corporators as well. Advait Srinivas, a resident of Shri Niwas is among the residents who have raised complaints against Sahaj Developers. "Apart from the noise, they sometimes bring big cement mixers at 9 am and block the narrow roads for the vehicles. The workers keep staring into our homes, which makes the women in our building uncomfortable. Due to this, we have to keep our curtains drawn at all times," he said. Vishal Gudka, a member of the management of Sahaj Developers declined to comment.

Bharat Bhoite, senior inspector at Matunga Police said, "We have received a complaint from a resident of Dadar Parsi Colony in which the complainant has claimed that he was beaten up by a person who worked for builder. We have registered non-cognisable offence against the offender," he added.

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