The Hindu 06.01.2014
Town Hall to get a facelift
Sir Puttanna Chetty Town Hall on J.C. Road, an iconic
landmark, will soon get a facelift. With increasing complaints about
poor ventilation, broken seats, dingy interiors and a badly maintained
stage, the BBMP has now decided to renovate 78-year-old building,
popularly known as Town Hall.
According to sources, a
project for Rs. 5 crore has been drawn up to give Town Hall a complete
overhaul. The BBMP proposes to give the building a new lease of life by
installing the state-of-the-art light and sound system, along with good
seating facility and centralised air conditioning.
The
proposal has already been sent to the BBMP’s standing committee for
ward works and is likely to be given the green signal next week.
Mayor B.S. Sathyanarayana confirmed this and stated that tender for the project would be floated soon.
“The
BBMP will float the tender in anticipation of the approval of the
council. Since the building is crying for attention, we do not want to
wait for another month for the subject to come up before the council and
then float the tender,” he said.
He said that the
BBMP would also form a sub-committee with renowned theatre persons to
guide the civic body on renovation and modification of Town Hall to suit
the needs of artistes. “We will invite renowned theatre persons such as
Master Hirannaiyya, Girish Karnad, Arundhati Nag and Prakash Belawadi.
We will take their inputs and direct the agency chosen to implement the
same,” he added.
This is not the first time that an
attempt is being made to renovate Town Hall. Last year, the BBMP, which
owns and maintains the building, had stopped accepting bookings beyond
December 31, 2012.
However, there was no progress and the renovation plan continued to be in limbo.
Four
years ago, the BBMP floated tenders to change the damaged seats at a
cost of Rs. 20 lakh. However, the agency that bagged the tender wanted
more money as there was an increase in the price of steel. Since the
BBMP did not agree to this, the project was scrapped, a source said.
The source also stated that the BBMP was incurring a loss since the rental rate was far lesser than the maintenance costs.
“We
charge only Rs. 5,000 a day, while the electricity bills sometimes run
up to Rs. 1,000 a day when the hall is occupied. Once renovated, the
rentals may be increased. A decision on this will be taken only after
the renovation is fully completed,” the source added.
Public furore
The
landmark building has been in the news for the past few days. The BBMP
proposed to pledge the iconic building to avail a loan. But the proposal
was dropped after much public furore and intervention of the Chief
Minister.