Boombox menace continues till dawn in Delhi

Residents across Delhi-NCR experienced another sleepless night as the mayhem caused by the onslaught of trucks laden with boomboxes blaring deafening music that started on Tuesday, carried on through the night on Wednesday, finally reaching a crescendo on Thursday with ground-shaking music being played till dawn.
Hundreds of residents complained to police, and even took to social media, posting photos and videos of the processions blaring ground-rattling music till as late as 5am, especially around temples in areas spread across south, east, and central Delhi, as well as in parts of Noida and Ghaziabad.
Residents said their doors and windows rattled all night, in yet another instance where authorities refused to act despite a raft of rules regarding traffic and noise levels being violated with impunity.
“Once again the madness of loudspeakers continued till Thursday morning. There was massive noise pollution, which appears to have become the norm. It is shameful that there was no action despite loud music till late in the night,” said Ashish Ved Sharma, a resident of Kalkaji.
Another resident of the area, Vijyata (who goes by her first name), said: “There is nobody to look into the loudspeakers violating all norms near Kalkaji temple and in the neighbouring areas. This menace is only increasing day by day. I am only glad that the noise will end now.”
The processions usually start about two days before the first day of Navratra when devotees carry the holy flame (akhand jyot) from the temple to their homes or places of worship.
Shrishti Agarwal, who lives near Mayur Vihar, said, “Even till 4am the loud music had not stopped. It’s beyond me how such loud music, which causes our windows to rattle, can be permitted. I couldn’t sleep for a single minute all night… This is inhuman and should be illegal.”
Similar complaints poured in from NCR cities as well as the processions carrying the lamp from the temple dispersed to neighbourhoods.
“Feel the vibrations. It’s 3am on a working or school night. This is after multiple complaints and requests to get the volume turned down. This is Noida, high-tech city of Uttar Pradesh and no authority is willing to do anything about this. Blatant violation of noise pollution rules here,” Congress member Pankhuri Pathak posted on X. She shared a video of continuous processions along the Noida-Greater Noida expressway.
By Thursday evening, the processions with loud music and disco lights were reduced substantially, residents said.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) permits a maximum noise level in residential areas of 55dB(A) between 6am and 10pm. This threshold falls to 45dB(A) from 10pm till 6am. Db(A), or a weighted decibel, is a measure of how loud something sounds to the human ear. For loudspeakers, the rules mandate that the noise level at the boundary of the public place where a loudspeaker or public address system is being used shall not exceed by more than 10dB(A) the noise standards for the area or 75dB(A), whichever is lower.
“Boom boxes with blaring music and modification of vehicles are not allowed according to the Motor Vehicle Act. Special permission can be taken from the police for some events but even in such cases, the noise levels cannot go beyond the permissible limits. For most of these events and processions, no permission is taken, and action can be taken against them,” said a transport department official.