Bengaluru: Noisy scenes near Indiranagar pubs have become a nuisance for senior citizens

BENGALURU: It's close to 1 am, the deadline hour that Bengaluru pubs are supposed to shut shop during weekends.
Fifty-six-year-old Pritha Lakhumna and her husband, heave a sigh of relief and get ready to finally go to bed in the hope that the noise from outside their home will ebb. Suddenly a girl shrieks.

The elderly couple think a woman is being attacked and rush out of their home next to a buzzing pub only to find a bunch of youngsters revelling.

Tired of this unending revelry spawned by a rash of pubs, bars and restaurants on the 12th main road in Indiranagar, the Lakhumnas have decided to move out of their home of 20 years.

Such instances have become a way of life on this once idyllic stretch that over the past 25 years has transformed into a bustling, upmarket locality . It now has eight pubs or restaurants in a one km-stretch which trouble the 900-odd houses in the vicinity with the rising noise levels.

For mer Chief Secretary Teresa Bhattacharya, who heads the HAL 2nd Stage Residents Welfare Association, is clearly upset. “The 12th main, under the regulations, is a commercial axes in a residential zone.

So all rules of a residential area apply to it. We are not against commercial activity but violation of permissible noise levels, people drinking in parked cars after closing hours and parking issues have made our life miserable,“ she said.

Her for mer colleague A Ravindra too felt the number of bars has increased tremendously and said he often wondered if Indiranagar needed so many bars. “Youngsters visit late in the evening and create nuisance, causing lot of disturbance to residents living there.The authorities must enforce the rules related to bars,“ said Ravindra, who now heads ISEC.

Instances of old-time Indiranagar residents being forced out of their homes are a result of a combination of governmental apathy, disregard for rules by license holders and acts of nuisance by pub goers.

Cricketer Rahul Dravid's brother Vijay Dravid, who resides on the 12th main stretch, has fought a concerted battle, when he realised that a pub was being planned next to his home.“Obtaining an NOC from neighbours is a must which my neighbours and I refused to sign when we got an inkling of what was about to happen.“

It took him a week of reaching out to the right people at BBMP , the Health Department, and the Pollution Control Board to stop the business from swooping down on the premises. “The letters should reach the right people and be acknowledged by them. Unless that happens, it's a futile effort,“ Dravid cautions those who may be facing a similar situation.