The presence of Oxford College and National Public School (NPS) is causing much heartburn among residents of 17th B Main in Sector 4. Adding to their problems is the lackadaisical attitude of school authorities, bus drivers and civic agencies in finding a permanent solution to the problem of rash driving, blaring loud speakers and traffic jams on this thoroughfare. In addition, two residential buildings have turned commercial and host Paying Guest accommodations, two xerox shops and a tailoring unit. The result is that there is queuing up of people, haphazard parking, constant noise and a lot of latenight pickup and drops of men and women staying in PGs.
NATIONAL PUBLIC SCHOOL
The residents of this road complain that the National Public School in HSR Layout is high-handed about its functioning. Whether it’s playing blaring music all day a month before the recent annual day function or the haphazard parking of vehicles by parents in front of people’s houses on 17th B Main, or the high-handedness of school bus drivers, the residents have had enough of the school. That it has pupils of IAS officers and politicians makes it get away with many of these issues, claim residents.
The problems don’t just end there. “The school authorities are arrogant and don’t respond to complaints from the residents,” says resident activist Kavitha Reddy. “The Sector 4 Residents Welfare Association has written 55 letters to the school regarding the traffic, noise and road congestion issues in the last 4-5 years, but the school chooses to keep mum about them all. We call for a meeting and they don’t come.”
The most recent was the day-long blaring music that went on in the school campus to prepare for a recently-concluded school fest. The issue is that such festivities happen on school grounds on a regular basis. With several senior citizens living on 17th B Main, the noise norms are getting violated and the day-long music is hurting everyone. “The school is like a fort… they don’t want to talk to anybody outside,” said Kavitha. “Let them issue instructions to the parents not to park in front of people’s homes. They can also use their security personnel to resolve the parking problems. For functions, they can request Freedom School to lend their grounds.”
There are other noise pollution sources as well. “They keep big generators in front of our houses, and they go on and on,” says another resident Panduranga CR. “They stink too. Why can’t they place the generators inside? They have a big campus.”
RESIDENTS’ CARS UNDER HOUSE ARREST
“We can’t bring out our cars from houses as the buses are parked on the school side and the parents park in front of our house,” says Panduranga. “We cannot handle the parents, only the school management can police them by issuing an instruction that parking on 17th B Main will not be allowed.”
The residents understand that certain issues need a compromise. But all they are asking for is to be consulted when certain issues cannot be resolved. “They should respect the neighbours,” says Kavitha. “That coexistence formula is not there which is what is agitating people as they are doing their own thuggery.”
Two years ago, the issue with bus drivers reached a flashpoint when a bus driver hit a resident for objecting to haphazard parking of school buses on the public road. “We filed a case against the drivers, and today, the drivers are begging us to withdraw the complaint,” said Kavitha. “The school authorities say that they have outsourced the bus service and are therefore not responsible for the bus driver’s actions. Playing ‘chamma chamma’ and other dance numbers with full-on speakers is not positive energy, it’s disgusting! Cops have been called thrice already due to the noise from speakers at NPS School!”
THE OXFORD COLLEGE OF SCIENCE
The students from Oxford College are another problem. “There is public display of affection by them all along the road,” said Kavitha. Another resident Shamanna Reddy echoes her feelings and says, “The school students drive rashly and make too much on 17th B Main where I stay. This road is a nuisance for the last 8-10 years and no amount of complaints to BBMP to install speed humps has worked. Similarly, the traffic cops are not finding a permanent solution to the rash driving issue here.”
Resident V Anand Kumar says they have no problems with other schools like Freedom International and Shakuntala Devi as they are not on 17th B Main. “The problem is only with NPS and Oxford college,” he says. “The cops are also helpless. I have seen them doing nothing even when four students are on a bike and indulging in PDA. The cops tell us if the parents are not bothered about their kids, why should we?”
COMMERCIALISATION
A bakery was stopped from coming up on the road, but the two PGs on the road are not hosting a new xerox shop in addition to the existing xerox shop and a tailoring unit. “All these facilities lead to a crowd of students parking their two wheelers haphazardly,” says Kumar. “Every other day, I am fighting with the college authorities as I am not able to take out my car. The college security only works when I scream at them. On other days, they go lax again. Because of PGs, women stand out at night, creating further nuisance as guys pick up and drop them. The college authorities organise birthday parties and throw the garbage on the road.”
We asked NPS principal Shefali Tyagi to get back to us on the complaints from residents. But she never did, even months later. That shows the arrogance with which the school management operates in a residential locality. Who will bring these offenders to book, ask hapless residents.
