Awaaz Foundation

Awaaz Foundation was founded on 21 February 2006 by Sumaira Abdulali, a well-known environmentalist, who has exposed many scandals of environmental villainy in India at personal risk.

The Foundation has filed several public interest litigations, including demands for strict implementation of noise pollution laws,[1] better functioning of Mumbai's Tree Authority,[2] reducing noise pollution, banning sale of tobacco to minors,[3] efforts to counter the politically sponsored sand mining mafia[4][5][6] and recognition of the biodiverse Sawantwadi-Dodamarg wildlife corridor as an ecologically sensitive area.

[21] The use of loudspeakers, permitted by the courts on certain occasions, often exceeds the permissible decibel limit, causing a great deal of stress and anxiety to the neighbourhoods.

[26][27][28] Awaaz Foundation systematically collected noise pollution data for the first time in India, collated and presented it to the State and Union Governments, Courts, police and citizens.

Data was generated of noise levels at major events since 2003, from sources including firecrackers, traffic, loudspeakers, industrial equipment and construction.

[30] Also based on data presented to MoEF during the pendency of the public interest litigation in the Bombay High Court, Government of India's Ministry of Environment and Forests accepted all recommendations by Awaaz Foundation on 11 January 2010 for stricter noise laws in the country and issued a new notification to ban use of loudspeakers, musical instruments and honking in the areas demarcated as silence zones, including areas around religious places throughout India.

Consequent to the Bombay High Court Order, the State Government of Maharashtra initially notified and asked municipal bodies in the state to demarcate an area of 100 metres (330 ft) around educational institutions, hospitals and courts as silence zones but left out the areas surrounding religious places as silence zones.

[34] On 6 August 2009, the principal secretary of the Home Department, Government of Maharashtra in an affidavit told the court that about 1,313 religious places had been identified in the city of Mumbai and the BMC would put up Silence zone boards within three months.

[55] Awaaz Foundation encouraged citizen participation to implement noise rules by creating awareness about a free downloadable application onto phones to measure decibel levels.

Awaaz requested citizens to complain to the Mumbai Police website with a copy to them for followup and received numerous complaints in the festival season 2012.

[60] In 2015, community leaders carried out awareness drives to reduce noise from Mahim Fair and Eid e Milan through public Statements and grass root level campaigns[61] Awaaz Foundation measured noise at the Shiv Sena Party's annual Dasara Rally in 2010, 2011, 2012 2013, 2014 and 2015 and presented their findings to the Police and Bombay High Court.

The suspension of Indian Administrative Service officer Durga Shakti Nagpal for allegedly acting against illegal sand mining in Noida UP has brought the issue, which is rampant all across the country, into sharp focus.

The issue was brought to attention at any national or international forum for the first time through a side event The effect of coastal sand mining on biodiversity at the Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of Parties 11 by Awaaz Foundation and Bombay Natural History Society(BNHS) in October 2012.

After that, Awaaz Foundation filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Bombay High Court seeking a ban on mining activities along the Konkan coast.

Following the PIL, the court banned mining in the CRZ (coastal regulation zone) area and directed that a comprehensive report on alternatives to sand dredging prepared by Indian Institute of Technology Bombay should be implemented by the State Government.

[81][82] Sumaira Abdulali of Awaaz foundation raised some specific queries under the Right to Information Act regarding number of licences issued to barges carrying sand from Raigad district to Mumbai and Navi Mumbai along with the name of barges owners, conditions for operations as well as the number of inspections deployed to check if any contraband material was being smuggled into the jetty.

Thereafter, the concerned agencies responded that neither The Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) nor Directorate-General of Shipping (DGS) nor The Indian Coast Guard maintain any records of the number of barges that move in and out of the inland waters on a day -to -day basis.

The Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) will Provide No Objection Certificates to the sand barges that pass through the sea channel after the letters of approval from the district collector.

Awaaz Foundation inspected numerous illegal sand mining sites in the coastal areas near Mumbai including Thane, Vaitarna, Bankot Creeks, Kihim and Awas beaches and sent their findings to the MoEF, Government of Maharashtra, police and local authorities.

Awaaz Foundation is advocating inclusion of coastal sand mining on the Agenda of the next Convention of Biodiversity Conference of Parties 12 in 2014 by writing to the Indian Government, who is its International custodian until October 2014.

They also pressed for mainstreaming of alternative methods of building and road construction using recycled debris and plastics, which have been successful in pilot and small projects.

[97][98] The ministry of environment and forests of Government of India appointed two high levels Committees to recommend the type of development which should take place in the Western Ghats.

[105][106] The Order was passed during the pendancy of both high level Committee Reports and forms a precedent for citizens/villagers to take up smaller bio diverse areas for protection.

Tests conducted by Volunteer Faiz Abdulali using a sensitive meter capable of detecting specific heavy metals instantly through surface contact was used.

Indian festivals, increasingly commercialised and politicised, are becoming louder and show record peak levels in spite of increased public awareness and better implementation of time limits following Court Orders.
Use of firecrackers is increasing and they are now used round the year for every kind of celebration including weddings, cricket matches, Hindu, Muslim and Christian festivals and other miscellaneous events. These firecrackers are being lighted on public roads with traffic passing over them momentarily.
Mumbai is the noisiest city in the world and traffic is a continuous source of noise. An auto rickshaw in Mumbai measures 82.6 dB during this recording by Awaaz Foundation
Awaaz Foundation has measured noise levels from myriad sources including festivals, traffic, construction and religious places. This is a measurement during Ganpati 2013, the loudest festival in Mumbai.
Sumaira Abdulali recording noise under a Silence Zone board at a religious place
Awaaz Foundation and BNHS created awareness against coastal sand mining for the first time in a national or international forum at the UN Convention on Biodiversity, Conference of Parties 11 in Hyderabad India in October 2012
Suction pumps can extract a large volume of sand in a short period of time and can also operate through the day and night and through all seasons to quickly denude an area of its sand.
Manual sand mining, although labour-intensive, can extract huge quantities of sand due to the sheer number of such miners at a given stretch. In Thane creek, hundreds of manual sand mining boats operate simultaneously.
This 13-year-old boy has been mining sand manually for the past 3 years in an illegal sand mining operation near Mumbai.
Illegal sand mining is extensive around cities like Mumbai where it is required for construction. There is often a link between politicians and illegal sand mining in India.
Sawantwadi-Dodamarg is one of the most thickly forested area in Maharashtra (49%) and is extremely biodiverse including tiger, elephant and a variety of indigenous flora and fauna.
After 49 mining licenses were sanctioned by the Government of Maharashtra, 22 villages of the Sawantwadi-Dodamarg wildlife corridor made official representations to have their area notified as eco sensitive. Tiger is often spotted here and this is the Tiger God they worship.