THANE: In an attempt to tackle noise pollution issue during the festive season, the civic body, on Thursday, set up a 24/7 grievance redressal cell wherein citizens can anonymously send in their complaints. The Thane municipal corporation (TMC) has guaranteed that they will take immediate action.Though delayed, this has come in response to the Bombay high court’s directive to the civic body to control the noise levels during festivals such as Ganesh Chaturthi, Dahi Handi and Diwali . The high court had also directed to set up grievance redressal cells.While the corporation already had started a few toll-free helpline numbers, including 1800222108 and 7506946155, in 2015 on which residents could complaints, they have now reinvented this, created a separate cell and delegated the responsibility of this cell to a separate team.“We have set up a three-member team which will look into this issue. Citizens can either call us on 1800222108 or 02225371010, or SMS or whatsApp us on 7506946155. They can also e-mail us at rdmc@thanecity.gov.in,” said a civic official.Speaking about the action taken, he said, “The team will immediately inform the police in the area about the issue and the case will be fast tracked to the assistant municipal commissioner, who will then oversee the case. The status of the redressal of each complaint will be updated on the TMC website.”Complaints about other festive issues such as pandals occupying large sections of public roads and causing traffic congestion and chaos will also be considered among these complaints.Despite the delay in setting up this initiative, citizens are delighted to have some way of getting their complaints addressed.“Last year, I could not concentrate on my studies as my exams clashed during the Navratri celebrations. There was a lot of noise in the area. I tried calling the police, but the lines were busy. I didn’t know whom to call. The last resort was to continue studying the next day. Now, I will at least know whom to approach in such a situation,” said Namrata Sethi, a Kharegaon resident.While activists are also thrilled about the formation of this cell, they feel that the TMC can make the process simpler by keeping simpler helpline numbers.“This is a great move because the TMC has opened its line of communication with citizens. The TMC will now be able to resolve issues in real time. However, instead of a 10 digit number which is not so easy to remember, it would have been better if the TMC had kept a simple three-digit number, like 100. A number like this could have been used for other pollution-related problems,” said city-based citizen activist Dr. Mahesh Bedekar who filed the PIL.We have set up a three-member team which will look into this issue. Citizens can either call us on 1800222108 or 02225371010, or SMS or whatsapp us on 7506946155. They can also e-mail us at rdmc@thanecity.gov.in. The team will immediately inform the police in the area about the issue and the case will be fast tracked to the assistant municipal commissioner, who will then oversee the case

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