Delhi celebrates noisiest Diwali in three years

Karol Bagh, one of the city’s busiest commercial hubs, recorded the highest decibel levels on Diwali night, peaking at 93.5 decibels (dBA) at 11pm

New Delhi

Officials said that with the firecracker ban lifted for the first time in five years, average noise levels breached safe limits across all four zones — silence, residential, commercial, and industrial. (Sanchit Khanna/HT)

Delhi was louder this Diwali than it has been for the past three years, with most neighbourhoods breaching permissible noise limits despite curbs already in place. Real-time data from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), assessed by HT, showed that of the 26 active noise monitoring stations across the city, 23 recorded noise levels above prescribed standards — a jump from 22 such stations in 2024 and 13 in 2023.

Karol Bagh, one of the city’s busiest commercial hubs, recorded the highest decibel levels on Diwali night, peaking at 93.5 decibels (dBA) at 11pm. This was marginally lower than last year’s peak of 94.5 dBA recorded there. The area remained noisy through the day, with levels staying above the standard night-time limit of 55 dBA from 7am on Diwali until 2am of Tuesday. The night-time average was 88.4 dBA, roughly the same as last year’s 88.7 dBA.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has divided noise monitoring stations into four categories: silence zones, where the day and night-time decibel levels should not exceed 50 and 40 dB(A), respectively; residential zones, where the day and night-time standards are 55 and 45 dB(A), respectively; commercial zones, where the day and night standards are 65 and 55 dB(A), respectively, and industrial zones, which, by far,have the most lenient standards of 75 dB(A) during the day and 70 dB(A) at night.

Officials said that with the firecracker ban lifted for the first time in five years, average noise levels breached safe limits across all four zones — silence, residential, commercial, and industrial. Peak sound readings were largely reported between 9pm and 11pm on Monday, although several locations remained loud well past midnight.

Even areas marked as silence zones were far from quiet. On Sri Aurobindo Marg, the average noise level touched 65 dBA, while the peak reading was 75.7 dBA at 9 pm — nearly double the permissible 40 dBA for night hours. The stretch remained noisy until 1am. Similarly, near Maharshi Valmiki Hospital in Bawana, another silence zone, the decibel levels touched 77.9 dBA at 8pm.

In residential areas, Vivek Vihar recorded a noise level of 85 dBA at 9pm, while in Dwarka, the readings hovered around 80 dBA between 9pm and 10pm. Commercial pockets, such as Lajpat Nagar, also failed to meet standards, recording 83.3 dBA at 10pm and staying loud well into the night.

A July 2022 order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had directed that noise pollution be treated on a par with air pollution, and that any plan to curb air pollution must also include measures to mitigate noise.