New BBMP guidelines could spike PG rents

'The authorities should also consider the financial burden this could have on the owners. Only the economically weaker sections come to our PGs and we cannot afford to increase the rents immediately,' opined Sukhi Seo, secretary of the Bangalore PG owners’ association.

Bengaluru: The new guidelines released by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for Paying Guest (PG) accommodations could lead to an increase in rent.

Many PG owners told DH that some of the conditions laid down by the BBMP were impractical and that the authorities had not considered the ground reality. While ensuring security and hygiene is of the utmost priority, getting a Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) license for the kitchen and meeting the conditions for providing a certain quantity of water is impractical and could be costly, opined Sukhi Seo, secretary of the Bangalore PG owners’ association.

“The authorities should also consider the financial burden this could have on the owners. Only the economically weaker sections come to our PGs and we cannot afford to increase the rents immediately,” she said. 

Another PG owner said that this would only mean more rules for those running PGs legally and the need of the hour now was to crack down on illegal ones. “The officials need to crack down on illegal PGs which are the most unsafe instead of burdening us. We hardly make any profit by following the present rules. More rules only add to our burden,” said Shruthi K, a PG owner from Koramangala. 

On the other hand, many residents wonder if the BBMP will be successful in enforcing these rules and raised concerns that this could lead to more corruption.

“Though the idea of having such robust guidelines seems good on paper, I am not sure how well the officials will implement it on the ground. It could only be another route for corruption,” said Guru Ganesh, a resident of Whitefield. 

A few other residents also opined that the BBMP should make parking facilities mandatory in such PGs since the inmates of these PGs tend to park their vehicles randomly which affects the traffic movement.