Hyderabad: Even the ‘quiet zones’ of Hyderabad are no longer quiet. Recently, noise levels have risen above the permissible limits in many parts of the city, raising concerns about noise pollution. While the usually busy commercial areas are known for increased noise, areas of the city designated as ‘quiet zones’ have also started to suffer from increased noise levels. For the purpose of monitoring and enforcement, areas of the city have been divided into categories such as Quiet, Commercial, Residential and Industrial and acceptable noise levels have been set accordingly for each. However, what was once a true reflection of quiet zones is now drowning in noise. Quiet zones now witness noise levels far above the permissible limits of 50dB and 40dB both during the day and night. In some quiet zones, the noise level remains close to 60dB during the day and at night it is around 50dB. In both time periods, the levels are found to be at least 10dB above the permissible limits. The main reason for this is the sharp increase in the number of vehicles on the city roads, which increases the noise level significantly.

In the last few years, some places like Jubilee Hills, which has become famous as a bustling food street, have a lot of vehicular traffic till late in the night. According to data available with the Hyderabad Pollution Control Board (TGSPCB), despite the acceptable noise level being 55 dB during the day and 45 dB at night, Jubilee Hills has a noise level around 70, which can go up to 78.52 dB during the day and 79.83 dB at night. The same data shows noise levels in commercial areas, except Paradise, to be close to the maximum acceptable level of 65 dB during the day, but at night it goes well above the recommended 55 dB mark and at times crosses the 65 dB mark. Paradise recorded noise levels above 70 dB both during the day and night throughout the year. Surprisingly, the industrial area was the only area that consistently recorded scores below the maximum permissible limit. During the day, the noise level was well below the acceptable figure of 75 dB, with it going as low as 54.37 dB in Sanathnagar in March. Night-time levels were also comfortable.