RWAs of Indiranagar area meet top cop, want peace in neighbourhood

Representatives of eight prime localities in the city met Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Praveen Sood on Wednesday, urging him to pressure the government to withdraw its 1 am night life rule at least from predominantly residential areas.

During the hour-long meeting, they raised issues pertaining to the nuisance caused by pubs, bars and roof-top bars and restaurants. They handed over a memorandum to him highlighting problems like increasing noise pollution, parking chaos, drugs, drunken driving and prostitution.

Sneha Nandihal, president of B M Kaval RWA, said the law and order situation has collapsed in the area. The noise pollution is very high. “We have requested Sood to recommend to the state government to change the deadline from 1 am to 10 pm in predominantly residential areas like Indiranagar. Bengaluru cannot enjoy the tag of being a young city at the cost of a 95-year-old lady having sleepless nights because of the noise. The deadline of 1 am should be restricted to CBD areas and not everywhere,” she said.

The residents also pointed out that since the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has never imposed zonal regulations strictly, it should further not impose any rules on residents. The definition of residential and commercial areas has been strictly defined for each road in the master plan 2015, but has not been followed. The federation will be pointing this out to the BBMP commissioner in their next meeting.

 Swarna Venkataraman, vice president of 1st Indiranagar League RWA said the Supreme Court directions clearly say that the noise level should be less than 55 decibels after 10 pm. “People can party, but they should remain indoors and the noise level should be low. This can be handled by the police. The parking rules are completely violated. Vehicles are parked outside our homes and we are unable to come out,” she said.

The residents pointed out that there are 93 alcohol joints in Indiranagar alone, of which 60 are on 100 Feet and on 12th Main Road. Breweries outnumber grocery shops in the area. Many have sold their homes to commercial companies and have moved to quieter localities. But those who have stayed here for decades have been suffering for the past five years, Swarna said.

Sood pointed out that there were lapses in town planning and enforcement of zonal regulations. He said this was the root cause of the problem. This must be presented before the BBMP also and the issues people are facing are only because of the lack of enforcement. He also assured them that action will be taken against noise pollution, public drinking and drug peddling. However, parking has to be BBMP responsibility, he said.