PGs Staying in B-Block
On 1st October, guards were alerted about an unidentified car parked outside a B-block house. The vehicle has been parked the whole night. The guards found three girls in an intoxicated state in the car along with a boy (who owned the vehicle). The girls went to their paying guest accommodation while the boy was given a warning and told to leave. As per Anil Aeron, RWCS tried to trace the landlord but could not find any information as the girls refused to share any details.
This incident has shaken up residents in the sector, and many have started raising objections to the PGs. As per RWCS, there are some 30+ odd PGs in the sector, a figure corroborated by the listings on leading property websites.
Some residents had reached out to a Samvada contributor requesting that people staying in PGs be asked to ‘dress appropriately’ and also ‘be careful of their actions’. This is a sensitive matter, as one cannot infringe on the freedom to dress or behave in a certain manner. What may be acceptable to one person may be unacceptable to another.
That being said, one cannot lose sight of the fact that in the past years, there have been multiple incidents involving single men and women who are staying in the sector. In D-block, a couple would often be seen getting intimate inside a car, much to the shock of passersby. The landlord was eventually ‘advised’ to not renew the lease of the offending tenant. Similarly, in the past, when parks were not well-lit, couples would take advantage of the dark spots to cosy up. Guards have been called up to break up fights too in the past. Residents who live in the vicinity of PGs often complain about noise, lack of decorum, and not following norms and rules.
Many apartment complexes, not just in Noida but across the country, refuse to rent apartments to bachelors. Any resident whose kid goes to work in another city will tell you how difficult it is for single men or women to find safe accommodation on rent.
What can one do? It is a question that needs an answer. One cannot blame ‘modern times’ or ‘internet’ or movies or even parenting or lack of morals. These ‘kids’ are young adults who have stepped away from helicopter parenting and are exploring the boundaries or testing the Lakshman rekha of social norms. Maybe to them, the rest of the world is a problem. While they may have heard about ‘control’ and ‘restraint’ all their lives, they may be asking others to practise control and restraint themselves.
