Fed up with college fests in Delhi, neighbouring residents share their woes

Amid the vibrant glow of concert lights piercing the night sky and the pulsating beats drowning out all other sounds, a singer captivates a sea of young spectators. This spectacle has become a familiar sight during the ongoing fest season at Delhi colleges. However, beyond the campus borders, there are individuals who eagerly await the cessation of the cacophony. Who are these individuals? They are the residents of neighbouring areas surrounding especially the off-campus colleges who are resenting the disruption to their lives caused by the festivities.
From the outskirts of the college premises, lengthy queues of attendees spill onto the streets, causing traffic gridlock. Take, for instance, the congestion at Dwarka Sector 3 during the fest of Netaji Subhas University of Technology (NSUT), Moksha Innovision 2024. “Not only cars, but e-rickshaws, delivery vans, and even trucks were stranded on the road leading to Najafgarh,” recounts Shyamalima Kakati, an artist residing in Sewak Park, Dwarka. She elaborates, “Visiting students parked their vehicles in the service lane, obstructing the usual route residents take to commute to and from the metro station. Throughout the three-day fest, even an e-rickshaw struggled to navigate the narrow space left by parked cars. As a result, we had to detour through Najafgarh, adding an additional 40 minutes to my 10-minute commute.”
Having fallen prey to the bumper-to-bumper traffic, Sanjana Sharma, software engineer and resident of sector-4 in Dwarka, adds, “On the night of King’s performance in college, there was so much rush that I actually had to get down from my cab and walk home. But it’s not only about the rush. The music on all the days was blaring until 11pm. It was very disturbing and it became difficult to sleep in such a loud environment.”
Similarly, during Delhi Technological University’s (DTU) EngiFest ’24, residents of Rohini, faced a similar challenging situation. Sanvi Singh, an advertising executive based in Rohini sector 17, says, “I already know that during the days when the students are having their fest, there is no point in driving or taking a cab because it will be akin to wasting an hour of my day just sitting in unmoving traffic. But when I tried to hail an e-rikshaw from the metro station Samaypur Badli, the driver simply refused to go towards the residential side, saying that he will only be making the trips to and from college and not anywhere else. I ended up asking my husband to pick me up after waiting for 15 minutes to hail an auto or e-rik.”
Some others are even concerned about the impact of noise pollution on the lives of young ones. Dheeraj Chopra, an architect and resident of Harkesh Nagar, shares, “Any time there is a celebrity coming to the campus of IIIT-Delhi (Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi), it automatically means that my kids, eight and 11, will spend a sleepless night! The loud music keeps playing late into the night, and can be heard all the way to my house, even though there is a distance of a few kilometres in between the campus and where we live. Never mind, the next day is spoilt too for the children fail to get proper rest and wake up in time for school… Such colleges should not be permitted to play such loud music after 8pm. Anyone following the rules?”