DEHRADUN: With noise pollution emerging as a growing civic and environmental concern in the Doon Valley, particularly along the Mussoorie foothills, residents, retired civil and military officials and environmental activists on Sunday launched Uttarakhand Against Noise Pollution (UANP) at the Dehradun Press Club.
The citizens’ collective has been formed to push for stricter enforcement of existing noise pollution laws and to address alleged violations by hotels, resorts, restaurants, pubs, wedding venues, construction projects and event organisers across the state.
Introducing the initiative, social activist Anoop Nautiyal said UANP would work on three key fronts: building public awareness through local chapters across Uttarakhand, encouraging commercial and religious establishments to voluntarily reduce noise levels, and urging the police, urban local bodies, the Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board and other agencies to take more proactive action under the Noise Pollution Rules.
“The objective is not confrontation, but compliance and accountability,” Nautiyal said, adding that residents could no longer be expected to suffer in silence.
Several residents from areas around Mussoorie Diversion, Malsi and Kuthaal Gate shared their experiences, describing the impact of loud music, fireworks, late-night events and construction noise on health, sleep and daily life.
Major General Atul Rawat (Retd), a resident of Whispering Willows on Mussoorie Diversion, said he had spent nearly Rs 2 lakh on soundproofing his windows after being exposed to continuous noise from nearby restaurants, pubs and night-time construction activity from an upcoming residential project.
He said the disturbance had also affected the health of his elderly parents. Lt Col Karuna Thapliyal (Retired), who had built her retirement home at Kuthaal Gate, said she was eventually forced to sell it due to persistent noise disturbances.
She alleged that after raising complaints, she faced harassment, including tourists standing outside her gate on weekends, playing loud music and repeatedly ringing her doorbell.
Dharam Singh Rawat, 84, a retired Survey of India official and long-time resident of Malsi village, said his family had lived in the area for more than 200 years, but the locality was becoming “increasingly unlivable” due to noise from hotels in the Mussoorie foothills.
Another Malsi resident, Vinesh Rawat, said his grandchildren, aged between six months and five years, were often startled awake by late-night music and fireworks.
“Are long-time residents simply expected to give up hope?” he asked, adding that many elderly residents had nowhere else to go.
Sultan Singh, whose house borders a hotel property, said the noise was so intense that holding a normal conversation indoors had become difficult.
Pankaj Rawat said his family, including senior citizens, continued to suffer due to noise from hotels on multiple sides of his residence.
Environmental concerns were raised, too. Nitin Ahlawat noted that excessive noise is harming wildlife, and bird numbers in Malsi forest are dropping. Hotels are just 200m from the forest, so the impact is “direct and serious."
