New Year festivities prompt 971 noise complaints

The emergency helpline 999 received 971 calls throughout Bangladesh about loud music and noise pollution during the first hour of the New Year 2024 celebrations.

Dhaka alone accounted for 237 of these complaints, said Inspector Anwar Sattar, the spokesman for the service.

They received 526 calls by midnight and an additional 445 between midnight and noon on Monday.

In response, the police visited the reported locations and took action to stop the loud music blaring out from speakers, according to Anwar.

At 2am, an individual reported from house number 13 on road number 15 in the capital’s Dhanmondi that a lantern had fallen on the plastic sheet of the adjacent house’s boundary wall, causing a fire.

However, before the fire service arrived, the caller informed that they had put out the fire themselves and did not need assistance anymore.

Despite warnings from the Dhaka Metropolitan Police against burning firecrackers, flying lanterns, and playing loud music on the ‘Thirty First Night,’ or the New Year’s Eve, the trend persisted.

The fire service raised awareness by sharing statistics on fires caused by lanterns and fireworks in recent years.

However, before midnight on Sunday, many areas in Dhaka shook with firecracker sounds, and the night sky sparkled with colourful fireworks as people joyfully welcomed the new year from rooftops and balconies.