When the street moves into your bedroom: Dhaka’s e-rickshaw horns adding to the noise menace in residential areas

Shefali recently moved to a rented house in North Goran, by a narrow street that has become the 'Suez Canal' between Khilgaon Tilpapara and the Meradia–Banasree areas. 

All the main roads were dug up over a year ago and have remained in a state of disrepair ever since, even warlike. With frequent rain, these roads have turned treacherous, full of deep, waterlogged potholes that make them nearly impassable for most vehicles. 

As a result, hundreds of vehicles, especially e-rickshaws, now use the narrow street as a detour, almost around the clock. There's a constant queue of e-rickshaws, honking without pause, day and night. 

"I feel like I'm sleeping on the road; the noise in my bedroom is unbearable," said Shefali. Her neighbour, a new mother, has tried everything to protect her baby's ears: white noise, earplugs, tips from the internet. Nothing works.

We tried measuring the actual noise levels in Shefali's area using various free online apps. The readings hardly dropped below 100 decibels; during peak hours, they often hovered around 120 dB.

In Bangladesh, noise pollution in residential areas is regulated under the Noise Pollution (Control) Rules, 2006, which set permissible sound limits to safeguard public health and the environment. In residential zones, the maximum allowable noise is 45 dBA during the day (6 AM to 9 PM) and 35 dBA at night (9 PM to 6 AM). The use of loudspeakers, horns, and industrial equipment is restricted in these areas.

The Department of Environment (DoE) is tasked with enforcing these rules, and violators may face fines or legal action to ensure a peaceful living environment and reduce the health risks posed by excessive noise. 

In reality, however, a walk through many of Dhaka's residential neighbourhoods reveals a different story. Enforcement is practically non-existent, and vehicles, especially e-rickshaws, continue to honk almost frenetically.

Arif, a teenage e-rickshaw puller, was honking compulsively, as if it were his fundamental right, while weaving through the clogged street.

When asked why he was honking so much, he simply gave an awkward smile and said nothing.

We spoke to several other e-rickshaw pullers to understand the reason behind the relentless honking. Most said they needed to honk to overtake others. But why this constant urge to overtake? No clear answers—just more awkward smiles.

Noise pollution activists say the unchecked honking continues because violators face no consequences, and enforcement is virtually non-existent.

However, make no mistake, e-rickshaws may be the new menace, but the 'traditional' old ones, like bikers and private cars, haven't gone anywhere. The problem hasn't shifted; it has only compounded.

"It's a mindset," said ABM Nazmul Huda, a noise pollution activist who runs a campaign called Ami Horn Bajaina Bondhu. "Even highly educated people do not hesitate to honk frantically in the middle of the night," he added.

In several other neighbourhoods we enquired across the city, we learned much the same: residents trying to fall asleep to a flurry of honks; and waking up to it all over again.

Professor Kamruzzaman, an expert on Dhaka's pollution, recently stayed in Kathmandu, where he paid close attention to the state of noise at night around his hotel. "I hardly heard a single honk in about five minutes," he said. "That's a stark contrast to Dhaka, where five minutes without a honk is almost unheard of."

"In Dhaka's residential areas, all sorts of vehicles, especially e-rickshaws, now create menacing levels of noise pollution, deeply disrupting residents' lives and causing health issues," he added.

Naima Akter, a project manager at Work for a Better Bangladesh Trust, an organisation that works on noise pollution among other issues, said they had measured sound levels in various parts of Dhaka. "There's hardly any area in Dhaka that averaged below 100 decibels," she noted.

"And when we traced the source of the noise in residential zones, it was always the same: street vehicles everywhere," Naima said.

Kamruzzaman also pointed out a fundamental flaw in the noise limit laws for residential areas.

"You set the noise limit at 55 dB—but which vehicle horn produces sound within that range?" he said. "The law is contradictory by design."

"What needs to happen," he added, "is the announcement of a complete no-horn policy in residential areas—and strict enforcement of it."

According to the law, violators of noise pollution limits can face up to one month's imprisonment and/or a fine of up to Tk5,000. Repeat offenders risk up to six months in jail and/or a Tk10,000 fine. The DoE is the designated enforcement authority.

But where is the DoE?

Its project manager for controlling sound pollution, Fazle Elahi, said there are too many e-rickshaws in Dhaka for them to enforce laws.

"We are conducting mobile courts regularly to control noise pollution. But the way auto-rickshaws have flooded the streets, it's simply not possible to control them through mobile courts," he said.

He said the DoE sees the solution in community-based organisations stepping forward to address the issue. "How many mobile courts will the DoE deploy to control this?" he added.

A recent TBS investigation found that during the Awami League regime, the department spent around Tk26 crore on promotional materials, training, and souvenirs as part of a five-year project to control noise pollution. The project was meant to update decades-old policy and install real-time monitoring systems. Instead, it prioritised posters, calendars, and tote bags—many of which ended up unused.

In total, Tk44 crore was spent. Still, no policy update was delivered, and although 13 monitoring systems were reportedly purchased, not one was installed.

Enforcement was minimal, with just 1,749 mobile court drives conducted over four and a half years.

How exactly is the community supposed to take on this responsibility alone? When asked, Project Manager Fazle Elahi said, "The community people will do. The way it [e-rickshaws] spread didn't happen in a conventional way. Government organisations will not be able to take this responsibility directly."

Meanwhile, Shefali and her family are seriously considering moving elsewhere, though they worry it might not be so different.

"We're asking our family friends to help us find a noise-free home," Shefali said. "But it's not easy to get one."