Opening shops 24/7 will affect nearby residents: RWAs

By NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Indiranagar, Koramangala, J P Nagar and areas of the Central Business District (CBD) are some of the upscale localities of the city. But on Monday a group of citizens representing the Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWAs) of these areas came out with a host of issues bothering them.

They were all worried over a government notification allowing commercial establishments to operate 24x7.

Bruhat Bangalore Hoteliers’ Association had recently written to the City Police Commissioner requesting the implementation of this notification issued by the state’s Labour Department in January 2021. The residents said that this move might worsen the issues in these areas making it difficult for the residents to live in peace.

Swarna Venkataraman of i Change Indiranagar (a federation of RWAs in Indiranagar) said that many areas in the city are classified under the mixed zone and as a result, establishments functioning 24x7 will create a lot of problems for the residents there. “There are also a lot of larger issues that will crop up because of this move,” she said and added that there was no public consultation before deciding on the extension.

Sneha Nandihal of i Change Indiranagar said that policies to help traders recoup from pandemic losses could be brought in without infringing upon the basic rights of residents. “Apart from commercial stretches and mutation corridors, commercial establishments are being allowed to function even in the internal roads of residential areas. If the authorities had implemented zoning and enforced all regulations, we would have welcomed the move,” she said.

K.V. Bhat of J.P. Nagar Dollars Colony opined that the notification would provide legal support to the gradual metamorphosis of residential areas into commercial ones. “There are eight pubs within walking distance from where I stay. We cannot take our cars out on weekends as all spaces are used for parking,” he said and questioned how so many pubs were granted licenses in a ‘purely residential area’.

CBD has its own set of challenges. Sunita Kumar of Living Lavelle took exception to the move making Church Street vehicle-free on weekends as it posed several problems to the residents in the vicinity, especially for senior citizens. “Since CBD is surrounded by schools, traffic snarls begin early in the morning. With the proposed timings, we will have to live with traffic day and night,” she said. 

Nitin said that he found it difficult to walk from Brigade Road to Rest House Road (where he resides) after 6.30 pm due to the presence of gangsters and pimps in the area, which is also surrounded by dance bars.

“If the Police Commissioner permits this, will he give it to us in writing that the women of the city will be protected,” Nandihal asked as she raised several threats to women’s safety like groping and assault by miscreants who move on two-wheelers. Nitin Seshadri from Koramangala 3rd Block RWA said that morning-walkers will also be targeted if pubs are allowed to function 24x7.

The RWA representatives also pointed out that many police stations are understaffed. They said that policemen in the CBD are mostly on VIP duty due to the lack of a separate arrangement for the same.