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A techie living in Hyderabad has sparked an online debate by making serious allegations against the Residents Welfare Association (RWA) of his housing society. He says that after the theft in the house, RWA gave more importance to saving the respect of the society than the safety of the people. This techie named Shravan Venkataraman told his entire story on social media platform X. He alleged that he was reprimanded by the RWA members of his housing society when he raised questions on security lapses inside the gated community.

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This whole controversy started when some items were allegedly stolen from Venkataraman's house. To identify the thief, he asked for CCTV footage in the society's residents' WhatsApp group. But he was surprised to know that the surveillance cameras were not working at all.

He wrote, "There is a residents group in the society where I live. There was a theft at my house. When I asked for the security camera footage of the group, the RWA manager said that the footage was not available as the cameras were not working. They also came to know about this only after my complaint."

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Alarmed by this, Venkataraman appealed to other residents to remain alert and install personal security systems in their homes. "I posted in the residents' group that this is a serious issue and that residents should take care of their own safety by installing their own security cameras in their homes," he said.

According to Venkataraman, the next day the President and Vice-President of the Society called him to the club house. He thought that perhaps he might have received some update regarding the theft investigation, but as soon as he reached there, people started shouting at him over his warning message.

He alleged, "I went there thinking that they would solve my problem and might have found the thief. Instead, they called me and started shouting at me that how could I post such complaints on the residents' group and write that there is no security here and people should take care of themselves."

Venkataraman claimed that RWA officials accused him of tarnishing the society's image and "spoiling the atmosphere" by openly talking about the lack of security arrangements.

He also mentioned a strange thing said during that conversation. "The vice president said, 'Today you say the expensive Birkin slippers were stolen, tomorrow you will say the underwear or the shirt was stolen. We can't help finding all this stuff.'"

Angered by this altercation, Venkataraman later left the residents' WhatsApp group. Teki mentioned another incident to show the arbitrary attitude of the housing societies. According to him, a tenant in the community was stopped by an elderly resident for walking a dog near his house. When the woman refused saying that the road was a public place within the society, the resident reportedly lodged a police complaint alleging that the dog had damaged her car, following which police officials reached her house.

Following these incidents, Venkataraman strongly criticized the functioning of some RWAs and the power play within the gated community. He wrote, "The main reason for this is that this pre-boomer generation has grown up believing that elders should be obeyed without question. They have been bowing down to pride and ego in the name of respect even after suffering insults. Now that these people have grown up, they expect the same from the youth."

He further argued that some members of the residents' association try to control how people will live in the societies. “If their viewpoint is even slightly hurt by any family, they start imposing their ideas about how one should live in their rented/owned house – who can visit, who can't, who can complain, who can't, etc.,” he said.

Summing up his frustration, Venkataraman claimed that "these elderly people who are in power in RWAs or society associations go on a power-trip whenever someone challenges them on any genuine issue."