BENGALURU: The protest by residents of Indiranagar against Open Street Day festival, a cultural event on 100 Feet Road meant to “bring back the city’s golden heritage’, gained momentum on Thursday even as residents’ welfare associations and Tourism Minister Priyank Kharge faced off on Twitter.
The minister defended the event, saying the residents had misunderstood its intent, and clarified that if a majority of residents didn’t want the event, then it would be called off.
‘I Change Indira Nagar’ group, a federation of welfare associations in and around Indiranagar, have been protesting against the event since it was announced in December 2016. The group had written to City Police Commissioner Praveen Sood too in this regard.
On Thursday, IT and Tourism Minister Priyank Kharge visited a park in the locality. When the group got to know about this, they took to Twitter to express their anger at the fact that the event was going ahead in spite of their protests. The minister replied to the tweet, asking residents to contact his office.
Aruna Newton, president of the HAL 2nd Stage Civic Amenities and Cultural Association, said the authorities had been ignoring civic issues in the locality since 2011, many of them caused by the “excessive and illegal commercialisation” on 100 Feet Road. She added that residents didn’t believe the government was capable of handling a crowd, especially in light of the December 31 incident on MG Road and Brigade Road.
She said, “The event is like a slap on our faces. It will promote all the things that have made life tough for us. A meeting to introduce Open Street was announced without any notice, and still around 200 residents attended it. And all of them agreed that the event shouldn’t take place.” Newton clarifies that she isn’t against setting up pubs and bars, but only against allowing them to come up in residential areas.
Kharge clarified that the event wasn’t aimed at promoting pub culture. He said the event, to be held the day after Sankranti, would involve painting buffaloes, rangoli, Yakshagana performances, Carnatic music, free medical and eye camps and yoga.