Blast disturbs residents: PCB, cops wake up to loud music on church street

BENGALURU: The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board ( KSPCB) has issued notices to pubs and bars located on Church Street following complaints of loud music by residents in the area.

In a meeting with the owners of pubs and bars on April 1, both the KSPCB and Cubbon Park police told them that their licences could be cancelled if they do not keep decibel levels down.

DCP (Central) Sandeep Patil said he had received several complaints about loud music after 10 pm, following which he summoned the meeting.

“More than 30 owners attended the meeting at the KSPCB office. We asked them to follow guidelines on decibel levels, as issued by the Supreme Court. With the help from KSPCB, we have started monitoring the decibel level of music played in many pubs and bars," Patil said.

Teams have started surprise visits to bars and pubs to check noise levels, he added. KSPCB chairman Lakshman said he had written to the city police for a blanket ban on night life as a study showed that noise levels on Church Street -a popular hangout for food and beverages in the central business district -were sometimes higher than that in the Peenya Industrial Area.

Lakshman revealed that the KPSCB had asked the city corporation and the BDA to disallow commercial establishments like bars and pubs in residential areas. The study, he said, attributed 86% of noise in Bengaluru to civil society and only 14 % to industries.

The KPSCB has, in the meantime, requested the government to provide noise meters to the city police. The penalty amount for violations has also been increased from Rs 100 to Rs 1,000. The permissible noise level during the day is 65 decibels and night is 55 decibels.

Advocate Leela Shetty, a resident of Church Street, goes away to her relative's house on weekends to get away from the noise. "We cannot sleep on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. The music goes on till 12.30-1 am on those three days.We cannot put up with this torture," she said.

Vikram Dasappa, partner of Easy Tiger, an establishment on Church Street, said there are very few people living on Church Street and that the area is an established zone for entertainment.He admitted that most establishments played loud music in keeping with the street's "rock culture" image.