JW Marriott has sought a meeting with residents of neighbouring Silver Spring to hear their complaints about noise from the hotel’s party pads.
An official from the hotel, along EM Bypass, called up a resident of the condominium on Wednesday.
Environmental workers said such discussions about rising noise levels should start in many neighbourhoods around the city.
Prakash Kedia, secretary of the Silver Spring Apartment Owners Association, said he received the call from a senior official of the hotel. “They will come to meet us on Thursday morning,” said Kedia.
The Telegraph had reported on Wednesday that Silver Spring residents had hung a six floors-tall banner alleging that loud noise from the hotel was disturbing them. “Marriott Your Loud Noise Disturbs Silver Spring,” it read.
Calls from this newspaper to Sumeet Suri, general manager of the hotel, went unanswered on Wednesday.
Suri had told this newspaper on Tuesday that the hotel complies with all rules and he did not know why the residents had put up the banner.
Winters in Kolkata are generally known for outdoor parties, picnics and weddings, but these are also occasions when loud music is played and crackers are burst incessantly, said Naba Datta, general secretary of Sabuj Mancha, a platform of organisations and individuals working on environment issues.
A Kolkatan said it was worse for those who live close to wedding venues. “Bursting of crackers during weddings has picked up in the city in the past few years,” he said.
According to an order of the West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB), no crackers — not even green crackers — can be burst in the state except on some days like Diwali, Chhath Puja, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. The order, published in October 2021, says that green crackers can be burst between 11.55pm and 12.30am on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.
Environment activist Subhas Datta said the National Green Tribunal has asked the state government to ensure all sound boxes use sound limiters — a device that does not allow the sound emanating from a sound box to go beyond the permissible limit. But there is no clarity yet on how many companies that arrange sound for parties and weddings have actually started using sound limiters.
A senior PCB official said they do not have any knowledge about how many sound boxes are used with sound limiters. “Police are supposed to inform us,” he said.
Two police officers told The Telegraph that the police generally act when they receive a complaint but they rarely act on their own during this time of the year. “During Diwali, we act on our own and stop firecrackers from being burst or loud noise from sound boxes, but not during the winter months” said an officer. “If there is a complaint, we will act like we do at any other time of the year.”