Mangaluru Townhall to reopen after renovation on Nov 14

Mangaluru Townhall to reopen after renovation on Nov 14

www.mangaloretoday.com

Mangaluru, Nov. 11, 2015: After a year-long renovation exercise and controversies of Mangalore Town Hall, best known address for cultural events, will be inaugurated on Children’s day November 14.

Forest ministers B Ramanath Rai and Urban development minister Vinay Kumar Sorake will jointly inaugurate the fully air-conditioned town hall, Mayor Jacintha Alfred announced in a press meet at the MCC office on Wednesday.

 

The renovated town hall, in addition to replacement of damaged seats, defunct electrical equipment and leaking ceiling, the city corporation has made it fully air conditioned. The Town Hall has been renovated at a cost of Rs 4.58 crore, she added.

The hall was closed on September 15 last year and the reopening was scheduled for December when the Town Hall celebrated its Golden Jubilee. The renovation of hall halted for many months due to wrangling between officials as well as peoples representatives.

 

Rents for Town Hall may go up

Hiring the Town Hall for hosting programmes will be costlier from next month as Mangaluru City Corporation will increase the rents.

Mayor Jesinta Vijaya Alfred told media here on Wednesday that the renovated hall which would be re-opened on Saturday would be made available for programmes from December 1.

She said that following the re-opening, the hall would not be provided for programmes for a fortnight, to complete the “fine tuning” of renovation works.

As the maintenance cost of the hall would go up from next month due to renovation, the civic body would have to increase the rents. The revised slabs of rents for various programmes were being worked out now.

The Mayor said that the rents were being worked out both for using the hall with air-conditioned facility and without it. Like earlier now the organisers need not arrange for sound system on rental basis from outside. The facility has been arranged in the hall as a built-in facility.

H.N. Gopalakrishna, Commissioner, said that personnel for maintenance and security would be outsourced. This would be sourced from a single agency for better co-ordination as both could go together well. Murals would be showcased on the walls at the entrance and on both the sides of the stage.

The Mayor said that the hall would be inaugurated at 11 a.m. Minister for Urban Development Vinay Kumar Sorake and Minister for Forests, Environment and Ecology B. Ramanath Rai will attend the inaugural function, with other elected representatives. It would be followed by cultural programmes by children. Later, there would be a Yakshagana performance and a Tulu drama.

The Mayor said that Gannon Dunkerley and Co. Ltd., Chennai, had built the town hall when Mangalore (now Mangaluru) was under the then Mysore state. The then Governor General Nagesh had inaugurated it on December 29, 1964. It has completed 50 years.

She said that the hall was renovated later in 1998 with funds from donors. The hall had been renovated in a major way since then for the first time now after 15 years.

Performers of Yakshagana, drama, Bharatanatyam, music, students and others in general were missing the hall, which should have observed its golden jubilee in December last, as it was closed down for renovation since mid-September last.