BENGALURU: After a ‘harrowing’ Saturday night, residents of Indiranagar took to Twitter regarding the disturbance from Tipsy Bull – a pub on 100-feet Road — they have been facing over the last few years. This, after several letters and complaints to the police and pollution control board have gone in vain, they allege.
“Though pubs have been instructed to be soundproofed, no action seems to have been taken. On Saturday night, although no music was played, customers were creating a ruckus. I had to call the police control room. Generally, when they come to inspect, the pub stops playing music.
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Thirty minutes after the police leave, the music is turned on again,” says Pradeep Kamath, a resident. The 62-year-old clarifies that they don't have problems with them playing loud music as long as the space is soundproofed. "It disturbs our sleep, especially since the music goes on till 2,am. It's so loud that it can be heard even four blocks away. We have knocked on every official's door, lodged complaints at the Jeevan Bima Police Station and with the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board. All of them issued notices, but no action has been taken yet," he says.
The residents say that the problem has been looming large ever since the pub in question started, about two years ago. According to Sultan Singh, another Indiranagar resident, though the Supreme Court has ordered that loud music not be played in open places post 10pm, the pub still continues to do so. "Many a time, they are open beyond their deadline. They have rooftop and open balconies where customers create a nuisance in the name of celebrating. Inspections were done by the pollution board and a notice was issued in June last year after they found that the sound levels were higher than the prescribed limit. Though orders have been issued to them on soundproofing the place, nothing been done yet," he says.
Recently, MLA of Shantinagar constituency, NA Haris, had instructed the police to inspect commercial establishments and inform owners to soundproof the place. He had ordered that no pub should play music until they comply with the instructions. When CE alerted Haris about the issue, he said, "I will talk to the police and see that action is taken. We have initiated action to control the issue, and in due time, everything will fall in place."
When we contacted Tipsy Bull, an employee of the pub, on condition of anonymity, said, "We
just have one neighbour near our pub, and I have heard that there is some sort of family rivalry with the owner of Tipsy Bull, which is why they are creating issues." However, owner of the pub Angad Singh was unavialbale for comment.