Fed up with the increasing commercialisation of their locality, the people of Indiranagar are waging a war against pubs that have mushroomed in their lanes and bylanes. As many as eight Resident Welfare Associations have come together under the banner “I change Indiranagar,” to put a full stop to pubs coming up in their neighbourhood and have even taken legal action in the matter.
Says Ms Swarna Venkataraman, secretary of the Indiranagar Ist Stage League Resident Welfare Association, “Indiranagar has now become a ‘Pub Nagar.’ As residents we are not able to tolerate this anymore. We are seeing prostitution, drug use and degradation happening right before us. I am not taking a moral stand here. But I have a seven- year- old son. We can’t live inside our homes and we can’t come out. So what we are supposed to do?” .
The residents have submitted petitions to successive commissioners of the police, BBMP, fire, excise and other agencies, but nothing has come of it . “Despite getting information through RTI, no agency took action. So we had no choice but to approach the court,” she explains. The petition has listed a whole range of issues concerning the pubs, especially objecting to the loud music they play late into the night, that disturbs the area’s peace and quiet and those trying to sleep in their homes.
While the hearing has been adjourned to August 30, the court directed the police to assess the music being played in the pubs in Indiranagar and submit a report to it. This appears to have led to the recent raids on three pubs in the area, which not everyone seems happy about.
