Bengaluru Flat Owner’s Cost-Cutting Ideas Spark Outrage: No Night Guards, No CCTV, No Power Backup

A set of unusual cost-cutting suggestions by a flat owner in Bengaluru has triggered widespread online mockery after screenshots of an internal housing society email went viral on social media.

The apartment owner proposed a series of measures aimed at reducing monthly maintenance charges, including scaling back essential services such as security, power backup, CCTV surveillance and even garbage collection. The email, later shared on Reddit by a resident, quickly drew attention for its increasingly extreme recommendations.

Among the suggestions were replacing gardeners with automated irrigation systems, dimming common-area lighting to cut electricity costs, and enforcing stricter playtime rules for children to reduce power usage. The email also proposed reducing garbage collection expenses by hiring workers willing to do the job at lower wages.

The proposals escalated further with suggestions to eliminate night-time security altogether, asking residents to lock their homes by a fixed hour in the evening. The flat owner argued that expecting guards to stay awake at night was “inhuman” and that strict curfews could replace round-the-clock surveillance.

Perhaps the most controversial recommendation was to completely remove diesel generators and minimise or eliminate CCTV cameras, citing environmental concerns and privacy issues. According to the email, occasional power outages were described as “eco-friendly,” while CCTV cameras were labelled an invasion of residents’ privacy. The post sparked a flood of reactions online, with users calling the ideas impractical, unsafe and out of touch with urban living realities. Many criticised the suggestions for prioritising cost-cutting over safety, quality of life and basic services in a residential community.

While housing society maintenance costs continue to be a concern for residents across Indian cities, the viral response suggests that drastic savings at the expense of security and convenience remain a hard sell.