Pune: PMC planning to rent out less used auditoriums to private firms

Shikha Chaurasia

Pune, June 6, 2020: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) currently owns 14 auditoriums in the city out of which only four are used to its full capacity. The Balgandharva Rang Mandir, Ganesh Kala Krida, Anna Bhau Sathe and Yashwantrao Chavan auditoriums are the four frequently used auditoriums, the rest aren’t in much use.

The PMC has to bear the maintenance costs and other expenses which is quite high. In order to cut down to on expenses and earn more revenue, additional municipal commissioner of PMC Shantanu Goyal suggested the concept of renting out these less used auditoriums to private firms.

He said, “The auditoriums in high demand should be controlled by the PMC and therefore the less used auditoriums should be rented out to private parties.”

Another official said, “If the auditoriums are rented out to event management firms, they are going to approach schools, corporates and other institutions and utilize these auditoriums to the maximum extent. By doing this, PMC can cut down on its expenditure by not paying for electricity bills, maintenance and other things.”

A proposal is being drafted by the cultural department which is planning to rent out auditoriums along with art galleries.