Two officials from JW Marriott visited Silver Spring, the condominium close to the hotel on EM Bypass in east Kolkata, whose residents have complained about noise from the hotel’s party pads, and measured noise levels inside the apartment complex.
A programme was underway at the hotel’s poolside open-air venue when the officials measured the noise levels inside Silver Spring, said a resident of the apartment.
Silver Spring’s residents alleged that noise emanating from the open-air venues of the hotel, including the poolside venue, whenever there is a party or a wedding reception became unbearable.
When the two officials — a director and a sound consultant — left they promised to fix the issue within two or three weeks, said Prakash Kedia, secretary of the Silver Spring Apartment Owners Association.
An official of JW Marriott said the hotel would not like to comment on the visit.
The Telegraph had reported on Wednesday about the residents of Silver Spring hanging a six-floor tall banner alleging that noise coming from JW Marriott disturbed them. The residents said the large banner was put up to draw the attention of people because they have been suffering from the problem for many years. The banner, white letters on a red background, screamed: “Marriott Your Loud Noise Disturbs Silver Spring”.
Kedia said they were hopeful that this problem of several years could finally see a resolution but the residents decided against removing the banner immediately. “We want to see whether they actually do something. If our problem gets solved, we will remove the banner,” he said. “The officials went around the ground floor and used the sound meter they were carrying to measure the noise level at various points,” he said.
Another resident, who was also present during the visit, said that the two officials from the hotel said the noise problem can be solved by changing the direction of their sound-emitting boxes and by making some other changes. “They were on our premises for about 35 minutes,” said the resident.
An environmental activist said that winter was the season when most events venues are bustling with activities. Weddings, parties or other receptions are held almost every day but very few venues use sound limiters in their boxes, which would have not allowed the sound to go beyond the permissible limit.
Besides, crackers are also burst indiscriminately from some venues.
An official of the West Bengal Pollution Control Board said that JW Marriott cannot breach the 65-decibel sound limit for commercial areas.
The permissible limit of noise in commercial areas is 65 decibels between 6am and 10pm and 55 decibels between 10pm and 6am.
The National Green Tribunal has asked the state government to ensure that sound limiters are always used, but an official of the state pollution control board said they did not know how many sound organising companies were using sound limiters.
