While pubs and restaurants amp up their marketing to make Indiranagar, Koramangala and the Central Business District the place to be for New Year celebration, for residents, it is a descent to a noise-filled sleepless night.
After a brief lull, noise levels in areas with high concentration of pubs and restaurants have gone up again. Many establishments in Indiranagar, Lavelle Road and Koramangala have started playing music loudly well into the night.
Residents are not amused, and are planning to petition the police to ensure they have a blissful celebration.
“Every other night for the past two weeks, some resident or the other has been complaining about pubs and bars playing loud music beyond the stipulated time. When complaints are made to the police control room (100), there is hardly any response,” says said Aruna Newton, member of I Change Indiranagar.
Hence, residents have been contacting local police officers through WhatsApp groups in the hope of some relief.
In Indiranagar, a sustained campaign from residents against pubs had seen some results, with the police issuing strict directives in July. Relatively-quiet nights followed.
“But, we are slowly going back to where we were. Some establishments are having noisy parties with music and screaming patrons have made life very difficult,” says Ms. Newton.
Indiranagar residents, who also complain of unsafe roads and speeding vehicles, have decided to meet the police commissioner in the hope for a solution.
Other areas too
Residents in the neighbourhood of Lavelle Road have also seen an increase in decibel levels in the last few days.
“Nothing much has changed despite repeated protests. The last few weekends have been especially bad. We are dreading the New Year eve,” said Shyamala N., member of the federation of residents welfare associations of Lavelle Road, Vittal Mallya Road, D'Souza Road, Walton Road and Kasturba Road.
Residents had in August this year organised a signature campaign against pubs and bars playing loud music. They even handed over a memorandum to the Cubbon Park police.
Revelry spills onto roads
They say it is not just about the noise but also the atmosphere of drunken revelry that spills over onto their roads. “Most of the revellers hang around in the streets. We have had some mugging incidents in the recent past. There have been drunken brawls and incidents of phones and bags being snatched,” said another member of the association.
Now, residents plan to petition the police officials again.“If the police does nothing, we will be forced to step up the pressure,” she said.
Promise of action
Additional Commissioner, Bengaluru City Police, East, Seemanth Kumar Singh said action would be taken against establishments playing loud music.
“There is no change in the rules. These establishments cannot play music without producing all the required documents, including an NOC from the Fire Department. We will take action against them,” he said, adding that almost all the applications that came from establishments for playing music were rejected by the police commissioner due to lack of proper documents.