Mysterious pinging noise stumps citizens through the night

NAGPUR: Mysterious sounds, like distant bells ringing on the streets, kept residents in many localities awake on Tuesday night. The pinging sounds which appeared to come from nowhere not only many disturbed but also fueled the imagination of many, and left many phones pinging with WhatsApp messages.
It was the city’s smart city network that was getting the hiccups and after TOI informed the officials of Smart City Solutions on Wednesday morning, within an hour the mysterious tones stopped.

A senior official told TOI that the noise was coming due to system updates. “It has now been resolved,” he said.

Under Smart and Safe City, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation had installed speakers in around 150 different traffic junctions across the city. Basically, the speakers were installed to create awareness related to traffic rules and regulations like helmet wearing mandatory, use seat belt etc. These awareness messages are being played in these squares throughout the day. These speakers are controlled from City Operation Centre developed at the NMC headquarters in Civil Lines.

However, on Tuesday late night, the mysterious sound started from the smart speakers installed in many city junctions terrifying some unsuspecting motorists. The creepy noise was so loud that even localities near the traffic junctions had a sleepless night.


P Harshad, a resident, said he was hearing an annoying ping since last night. He also heard the noise at Orange City Hospital Square, Laxmi Nagar Square and Bajaj Nagar Square. “It was like a small bell or an alarm. The noise went off every second or two seconds. The creepy noise was constant and virtually every second,” he pointed out.

It’s not something that’s bothering only P Harshad. Everyone at the traffic junctions was talking about it and asking other motorists and wondering what it was. Strangely, one heard the noise only very close to the traffic signals and then it faded away as motorists moved away.