Mumbai: Residents of Worli have asked for sound barriers along the Mumbai Coastal Road to protect them from the noise made by speeding vehicles, especially at night.

Viren Shah, a retailer who lives in a building in Worli Sea Face, now part of the Coastal Road, said that on many nights between 10pm and 12am, fleets of speeding cars with noise mufflers make the road very noisy.

Shah wrote to the Chief Minister, Home Minister, and Mumbai Police Commissioner on Friday to remind the authorities that even after several complaints, no punitive or preventive action has been taken on the noisy vehicles. He said traffic noise is a problem for residential buildings in Worli, Nepean Sea Road, and Breach Candy, including the Breach Candy Hospital.

"It is time to take action as noise and sound are increasing day by day and no preventive measure or action is taken by the traffic department. We residents staying in Coastal Road are having sleepless nights at late night hours ," said Shah who suggested sound barriers like those along the Eastern Island Freeway and road viaducts.

The central government's Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, mandate that ambient noise should not exceed 55 dB during daytime and 45dB during nighttime in residential areas. For silence zones, it is 50dB and 40 dB respectively. Anti-noise campaigners said that noise from traffic can range between 80 and 110 dB on the lower floors of a high-rise building located on a road.

Sumaira Abdulali of anti-noise campaigner Awaaz Foundation said it is doubtful if noise barriers, at least the ones that have been installed in the city, will help reduce traffic noise on the upper floors of residential buildings. "Curved barriers are more suitable. The road is elevated. There will be no quick fix," said Abdulali.

"The whole Coastal Road, from the point of noise and air pollution, is an ill-conceived project. It is like a band-aid fix (to the city's traffic problems). When you put a high-speed road next to a residential area, whether it is Nepean Sea Road, Breach Candy, or a suburb, it will be a problem in India where honking is a problem," Abdulali added.

The Coastal Road authorities said they have not received the letter of the complaint about noise pollution. "After receipt of the same, if any, can be dealt with as per the norms and requirements," said M M Swami, BMC Chief Engineer for the Mumbai Coastal Road Project.