Brews N Bites, a hookah bar on Bannerghatta Road opposite Meenakshi mall, was raided by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Thursday. BBMP Commissioner Anil Kumar tweeted that the hookah bar was raided for serving hookahs to underage patrons. “Materials and other hookah accessories were seized and a penalty of Rs 2 lakh was … Read more
Recently, Indiranagar’s 54th pub, Buffalo Wild Wings, came up in violation of the laws, and against the wishes of the residents. The inhabitants say that they are not resting until all the illegal pubs either vanish from their neighbourhood or comply with all the building bylaws, noise and excise norms, among others. More than a … Read more
After Flipkart and Myntra, it was now the turn of Adyar Ananda Bhavan (A2B). Clearly, these big chains have no sense of responsibility towards the environment and thereby, humans. Adyar was fined Rs 1 lakh by the city corporation for using banned plastic and not segregating waste, thereby violating the rules of Solid Waste Management … Read more
Never has Section 144 been imposed for fear of peaceful protests. Because Karnataka is a BJP-ruled state, it is obvious that the law that prohibits “unlawful assembly” of four or more people is being misused here in the name of public safety. Today, several people who are against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) violated the … Read more
Vijay Dennis, founder-president, RTI Workers Seva Samithi
In a letter dated December 9, 2019, the two-year-old Kudlu-based Karnataka RTI Workers Seva Samithi (KRTIWSS) has complained to the chief secretary of Karnataka to take action on BBMP offices in Begur Road and HSR Layout for not providing information about building violations in their jurisdiction as mandated by the Right to Information Act, 2005. The BBMP was to answer the queries within 30-45 days, but the civic agency failed to do it even after 79 days and counting.
In the last two years, over 40 RTI queries were made to the Bommanahalli BBMP office, however, the replies were never satisfactory. “They would give vague information, or never respond at all, or quote one fake RTI circular that a person can only file a query only three times a year,” said Vijay Dennis, the founder of the KRTIWSS.
Some of the complaints by KRTIWSS had to do with footpath encroachments across HSR Layout and Begur Road, and rampant building violations on stormwater drains, among other things. They have also filed a complaint with the Lok Ayukta about footpath encroachments by commercial establishments in HSR Layout.
“The BBMP officials just issue the showcause notice to the accused, take bribe and keep quiet without taking any action,” alleged Dennis. “Even if one building is demolished, the others will get scared, and not make the same mistake.” His fight continues. Will the authorities respond remains to be seen.
Despite cries for pedestrian-friendly roads and city infrastructure, Bengaluru continues to be mismanaged by an apathetic corporation and an even-more disoriented state government, irrespective of which party occupies the highest seat. The latest diatribe against such a bad road infrastructure came from the city’s first Bicycle Mayor Sathya Sankaran. Calling it the ‘city of cars, not people’, Sathya gave the examples of his parents who fell victims to Bengaluru’s appalling road infrastructure only recently.
Tweeting to the city police and BBMP Commissioner, Sathya wrote: “After the bad fall my father had on Sanjaynagar Main Road, it was my mother’s turn near New BEL Road bus stand. (She) Tripped over construction material left all over the place. This is a city for cars not people.”
The twitterrati was quick to react to this latest development by wishing his parents speedy recovery. In addition, they shared their thoughts on the city’s civic woes.
Citizen activist Srinivas Alavilli, the co-founder of Citizens for Bangalore, said, “We have become a city of machines and people have no place left. We shall take it back.”
The proactive Whitefield Rising resident group agreed with Srinivas by stating, “Our streets are strewn with debris, garbage, potholes and missing slabs.”
Vinay Kamble wanted to know if the government can be sued for this terrible incident. If you have the same question, yes, you can, if the injury happened due to a pothole, an open manhole or drain. In a recent case, the Karnataka High Court ordered the BBMP to compensate one such victim.
Vinay Sreenivasa had a similar story to share. “My mum in law also hurt her knee on a badly-laid footpath on Malleswaram 15th Cross. Unless we fix our pavements, we fail all the elderly and differently-abled in our city, and all of ourselves.”
Rajkumar Dugar recommended one measure that could rectify this issue. “This problem will reduce the day we have names of BBMP engineers and contractors displayed at every road with penalty clause for any damage to road. Citizens are made to cough up for the slightest mistake. Why not these people too?
Reacting to the incident, a representative of Save Harlur campaign made a stark statement: “This city is not even made for cars”. Another resident asked chief minister YS Yeddiyurappa to “transfer all inefficient officers”.
Only Balaji had an ironic twist to the controversy by questioning Sathya’s mission of sustainable mobility by saying, “And you have been misleading gullible people to cycle on such dangerous roads.”
TenderSure footpaths in central Bangalore are the toast of the city for their neatly-designed spaces for pedestrians. However, on MG Road, this has helped two-wheeler riders more than the walkers as this video proves. Clearly, where there is a way, there is a vehicle!
The only way to remove illegalities on roads and footpaths is to equip all the high density roads with high-end CCTVs for automatic traffic violations like speeding, footpath riding, overtaking, cutting signals and so on. This will bring order where none exist. Importantly, three such violations should result in automatic cancellation of driving licences for a year. No human involved means no corruption either. Will the central ministry of transport implement this immediately please?
The video above by Anantha Subramanyam says the story of footpath encroachment in just 30 seconds. A must-watch.
The spectre of commercialisation has gripped oversaturated neighbourhoods like Indiranagar, Whitefield, HSR Layout and Koramangala. The other day, a few youngsters supported by adults went from shop to shop on 100 Ft Road in Indiranagar, requesting them to remove ‘fairy lights’ on trees as they are damaging to the trunks as they are nailed into them. Not to mention, the birds who cannot bear a series of bright lights in their habitat.
Organised by youngsters of The Interact Club, the initiative did have its fair share of naysayers who asked the residents to do better things than mess with the shop’s aesthetics. Others said that the respectability of resident associations will lose its sheen if these initiatives were supported by them. Clearly, the reactions appeared to be either unfounded or had some vested interest as the arguments in favour of ‘fairy lights’ lacked substance.
The shopkeepers finally saw reason. Today, the fairy lights opposite Vapour pub and brewery, much to the relief of the residents. Today, the youngsters had also gone on a follow-up round of the shops. The store staffers promised them that they will abide by the law and remove the bright lights shortly.
Sonalee, the person coordinating the initiative for the youngsters confirms that most stores that the students visited last week had switched off their fairy lights since last week. “They have also promised to remove the tree lights in the coming week,” she said.
The stores covered in the follow-up drive included Allen Solly, Simon Carter, Van Huesen, Sony, Bhartiya Jalpan, US Polo, Chai Point, Bohemia, Bumble and O2.
Hundreds of people blocked the footpaths on 12th Main in Indiranagar today. Claiming to be victims of the residents’ crackdown on illegal pubs and restaurants, the protestors carried placards saying they should be given jobs as they are unemployed now. The residents counter it by saying that this is a ridiculous way to brush aside the illegalities and nuisances committed by pubs like Monkey Bar. It’s tantamount to saying that lawless businesses have no jobs for people because the law prohibits them.
The silent standing protest lasted for about an hour after which the crowd dissipated. Holding placards saying, “I want my job”, “Wanted: A job”, “Help! I’ve Lost My Job”, and so on, several observers reported that many restaurants appeared to be supporting this move as there were DJs and servers wearing white and holding flowers. A war of words began on Twitter too where some people asked the Indiranagar resident associations to give jobs to those who have lost employment due to their “mafia attitude”. Blaming proactive residents for shutting down restaurants that “stopped blaring music” after protests, the naysayers are questioning the association to stop their ‘holier than thou’ attitude and be more understanding to business concerns.
Reacting to all the controversy, resident Isabel Paul had this to say: “Unplanned and money-minded commercialization in residential areas impacts everyone eventually, and the govt needs to identify a satisfactory solution in collaboration with all the stakeholders.”
I Change Indiranagar Responds
In a tweet to the authorities, the media and the general public, I Change Indiranagar, the proactive federation of all residents welfare associations in Indiranagar, HAL 2nd and 3rd Stage, came out with its reaction to the snap silent protest conducted this afternoon: 1. We are not against any legally-run establishments – pub, bar, brewery or restaurant. 2. We are only interested in ensuring all establishments are operated based on the legal rules and norms laid down by the government authorities, be it building bye laws, fire safety, pollution control, traffic and law and order police, Excise, BBMP health department, BESCOM and BWSSB rules. 3. The core of this is the safety and well-being of residents, who have to bear sound and smoke pollution from generators and vehicles and roof top establishments blaring music past midnight, which are against Supreme Court established pollution norms. 4. It is also our concern for the safety of the patrons and guests of these establishments, as the owners of these establishments have not taken that into consideration. 5. Parking area in basement is most often misused for commercial purpose and cars parked in front of residents’ gates. 6. Buildings without occupancy certificate cause serious risk to lives of their guests and residents around, especially in case of fire. 7. Many illegal activities such as drugs and prostitution, which are a bane to society, occur in and around these establishments. 8. The security of residents and visitors alike, is seriously being compromised due to the huge influx of people on a given weekend and we as resident’s need our RIGHT TO LIFE restored too. This entire campaign is being made to look like arm-twisting mechanism by the authorities.
EDITORSPEAK
It is clear that the law is violated repeatedly in most cases of commercial enterprises in residential areas. And this is most prominent with pubs, the Monkey Bar being the most recent example as it did not have the mandatory Occupation Certificate, among many more violations. Political connivance, bribery and coercion is evident as many big establishments under the radar were found to be owned by heavyweights in business, politics and entertainment. Clearly, this nexus can only be broken if there is political will. The best example that one BBMP official cited was the removal of flex banners across the city within days after the High Court order. This shows that only the courts can rescue the residents from the commercial ambitions of senseless, greedy and unlawful entrepreneurs. It’s time this commercial breed realises its mistakes and makes amends instead of using youth as pawns in their larger game of commercialising everything in the city and outside. Every trend has its limits, and commercialisation has gone way beyond the saturation point. It’s about time the Supreme Court intervenes and ensures such illegal commercialisation does not happen anywhere in the country.
By law, the residents have every right to oppose any activity if it disturbs them, be it noise, air, or water pollution, or parking congestion and any other inconvenience. In a court of law, such an argument will always win. Therefore, we urge all entrepreneurs to be good Indians and follow the law rather than bribe an official and run their establishments without the relevant permissions. When they go ahead with the violations, and soon, the axe falls on them due to resident activism, they are responsible for rendering their staff without jobs. Not the residents. It’s plain common sense.
It began as a small idea of just a few kids from Defence Colony in Indiranagar going from one store to another and asking the shopkeepers to remove fairy lights as they are harmful to the trees on which they are hung. However, the idea gathered momentum and several other residents joined in on Twitter. With the Twitter handle of @ichangeindiranagar, this evening’s agenda was also posted online yesterday with this message:
Children will be visiting shops on 100 ft rd tmrw at 6 pm, from Caratlane to appeal to remove fairy lights choking the trees, making them susceptible to bacteria and fungus infections. These are illegal as per Karnataka Tree Act 1972
“The agenda is to visit every store on 100 ft road and explain to them why fairy lights are bad and hand over a letter signed by kids, requesting them to remove the lights,” said Sonalee, one of the parents, two days before the November 15 event at 6pm.
However, while many appreciated the gesture, there were naysayers that only made the residents more determined. “If you keep taking offense for everything, then you will lose the support of residents,” tweeted Vimmy Nair. “It’s also not fair to exploit children to push your agenda.”
The members of ‘I Change Indiranagar’, a federation of resident welfare associations in Indiranagar, HAL 2nd and 3rd Stage, pointed out that the kids were members of Interact Club and this was a voluntary exercise: “Interact Club is a community service club in Indiranagar for youth below 18 years. The children have come together to remind adults that we are the custodians of their future and it’s our duty to care for the environment.”
Vimmy had a reply to that as well: “Even I have been part of Interact Club during my school days and we didn’t participate in social activism but devoted our time to environmental cleanup, help the needy and develop a civic sense. Protesting in front of establishments is like firing a gun using the kids as shields.”
The Indiranagar 1st Stage RWA responded by tweeting: “Then you must know the meaning of civic sense, which btw we adults seem to have none of. Thank god for children!”
What was also contradictory to Vimmy’s statement was that this was a ‘save the tree’ initiative of kids. We are not sure how that does not add up to the ‘environmental cleanup’ initiative she mentions in her tweet.
The Indiranagar shops under the radar include Caratlane, Louis Phillipe, Simon Cater, Bologna, Allen Solly, Van Heusen, Sony, Bhartiya Jalpan, The Marina, Stoner Ice cream and La Cave. The kids will lead the shop tour this evening at 6pm while the adults will stay in the background for any logistical help.
“It is no secret that trees are good for us,” says Sonalee. “The trees on 100 feet road are old. They face the stress of traffic, pollution, garbage, bikers on footpaths, cemented footpath. Just like we would do everything possible to care for our grandparents, we feel removing year-long fairy lights is a tiny step we can take to help the trees we have grown up with.”
WHAT’S WRONG WITH FAIRY LIGHTS?
Nails: Damage the protective bark, which allows bacteria and fungus to attack the trees from inside.
Strangle the tree: Most shops keep the lights wrapped around the tree all year long. This is like choking the tree, especially harmful for young trees.
Unnatural light: The light messes up the trees, the flowering cycle, the birds. Some may argue that trees on 100 feet road are already impacted due to ambient light. While that is correct, the fairy lights are much more concentrated and closer to the tree.
The residents are fed up of commercial establishments coming up on residential roads. It is illegal to have any commercial outlet on roads that are 40 feet and less. On roads wider than 40 feet, BBMP decides on what can be completely commercial and what can be mixed use. However, the commercial business owners either don’t know the law or they are willingly violating the law.
NAMING AND SHAMING
We asked residents to name some such establishments in HSR that they feel are a nuisance in their neighbourhoods. We also noticed some commercial operators in HSR Layout. We urge the BBMP officials to take immediate action or risk suspension or worse for dereliction of duty.
The Hall of Shame list is as follows:
Gopi Technologies, 16th Main Road, 22nd Cross, Sector 3
Braceport Dentistry, 15th B Main, 21st Cross, Sector 3
The half a dozen preschools on 16th Cross between 14th and 15th Main.
A spa on 11th Cross, 17th B Main, Sector 4
The list is endless… We will continue to add names to this list as and when our readers send us the details.
ROLE OF MEDIA AND CIVIC ACTIVISTS
The only way the BBMP is made to do its job is when the residents protested and forced shutdowns or the local media like us took it up and began a consistent campaign, be it for bad roads or restaurants operating in basements which is a fire hazard. The residents shut down a rooftop pub that was coming up in Sector 4, a restaurant in Sector 1 and a proposed mall in Sector 3. When this channel highlighted a shed coming up on 19th Cross in Sector 3, it was eventually demolished by the site owner after the BBMP officials surprisingly refused to give permission for commercial use. Similarly, they demolished another shed in Sector 5 as it was another violation.
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
We urge the residents to first understand the law about not having commercial outlets on roads that are 40 feet and less. After all, the owners of commercial establishments in HSR Layout are either residing somewhere here or outside HSR, but very much in India. Therefore, it’s important that they know the law. Just because there is one illegality does not mean they can violate the law. As one resident put it so succinctly: “Those who violate the law are nati-national. I would even brand them as terrorists.” Right indeed, because commercial outlets cause noise, and air pollution in addition to parking problems and generating far too much waste, in addition to stressing the narrow sanitary lines, cauvery water connections and electricity loads.
This should not to be confused with people who work out of homes. They are by themselves and do not employ anybody to add to the stresses of commercialisation that we mentioned earlier. In fact, if half the people in the world work out of home, the roads will be far less congested and the pollution will come down automatically. So we should thank people who work from home. They are doing their bit for the environment.
APATHETIC GOVT AGENCIES
The worse part is that the BBMP does not take any action, despite being alerted about it. When one resident asked a civic official to take action, the person said that the residents have to write a letter to them. Why is that? So they are targetted by the commercial establishment? When this news channel writes about illegalities in HSR Layout, the BBMP officials give out our editor’s name. It’s as if we are the law here and they are obeying our dictat. Clearly, the BBMP officials have no will or courage to follow the letter of the law. Some residents have no problems being identified as the complainants, but it’s unfair to corner a few civic activists when they are fighting a larger public cause.
QUESTION OF PRIVACY
Recently, residents elsewhere in Bangalore petitioned the BBMP to take complaints from them without revealing their names to anyone. They wanted the civic agency to maintain their confidentiality. We would add that this should apply to the cops as well. But both the agencies blatantly violate the privacy rules and blurt out the person or people responsible for their legal action, complain residents.
The question is why should either the BBMP or the cops give away names of complainants when the illegalities are a public offence, not private. One cop confided that they are too small to go against the larger commercial interests, particularly when every other individual is ‘highly connected’. Therefore, they blurt out names of resident welfare associations, the media and civic activists to make a stronger case. Such is the delivery of justice in society today.
WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW?
Therefore, dear reader, if you spot a commercial establishment on a 40 feet road, take a picture, WhatsApp it to us (+919880585748) with the right address and we will add that name to this list, so the BBMP is forced to take action on them. Do not forget to inform us when the civic agency indeed takes action and shuts down the illegal outlets. In addition, it’s also important that you complain to the relevant agencies, so that your complaints are officially recorded as well. For BBMP cases, download the BBMP Sahaaya mobile app or visit the website of BBMP Sahaaya and register your complaint without registering yourself. Remember, each of us can make a better world. Just blaming the netas, the business people and the officials will not do. We are as much to blame for doing nothing about the illegalities all around us. As one resident put it: “Break away. Stand up for what is right, and all will be well in this world.”
Here is some money-saving tip for consumers. By law, no shop can charge you for carrybags. A recent ruling by a consumer court has much to say about this rule.
The story goes that Dinesh Parshad Raturi was made to pay Rs 3 for a carrybag when he shopped at a Bata showroom. Upset with this deficiency of service, he reported the matter to the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Chandigarh.
After the arguments were heard, the court ruled that Bata was indeed guilty of unfair trade practice as they were not supposed to charge any money for the carrybag.
The court’s justification went something like this, and it is important for us to note why Bata was fined. The court judge said that the consumer used a carrybag that sported the Bata logo and gave free publicity to the company. In addition, the bag was essential to packing of the shoes, and therefore it was wrong for the store to charge the customer separately for it.
The consumer court has ordered Bata India to give away carrybags without charging a dime to all their patrons across the country. In this case, the court ordered Bata to pay back Rs 3 and Rs 3000 as compensation for the stress and Rs 1000 as costs. In addition, Bata India was fined Rs 5000, an amount that had to be remitted in the Consumer Legal Aid Account of the court.
Therefore, the next time you step out to shop, know your rights. You don’t have to pay for the carrybag. And if the shops in the malls or standalone stores charge you, file a case in the consumer forum. Also remember that the carrybags cannot be plastic. They have to be paper or cloth bags.
