If any event has to be held at Tagore Theatre, a person is charged Rs 27,450 for a slot of four hours. Express
As many as 174 shows were held on concessional rates at Tagore Theatre which caused a loss of Rs 32.46 lakh to the Tagore Theatre Society, pointed out the audit by Local Audit Department of Chandigarh Administration. The auditors said that these shows were organised by NGOs, amateur theatre groups, academies, various societies and there was a loss of approximately Rs 17,450 on every single slot of the show.
“The NGOs, amateur theatre groups, academies and societies are being charged Rs 10,000 for a single time slot of four hours. The actual cost of four-hour show to the society has been worked out by the society office to be Rs 27,450 approximately. Thus there is a loss of Rs 17,450 to the Tagore Theatre Society for a single slot. During the financial year 2016-17, these organizations held 174 shows and resulted in a loss of Rs 32.46 lakh,” the report stated. It was specified in the report that no record related to bookings of certain groups was made available to audit despite various verbal requests and even the control room register was not maintained.
If any event has to be held at Tagore Theatre, a person is charged Rs 27,450 for a slot of four hours. Had these groups been charged the amount which others are also charged, there would have been an income of Rs 50 lakh approximately. The officials of the administration said that these groups are given the slot for Rs 10,000 to encourage them.
Home Secretary Anurag Aggarwal, who also heads the Culture Affairs Department, maintains that Tagore Theatre has to provide a platform to such groups. “There is a category of groups which have to be given concession because Tagore society operates on no profit no loss basis. These groups do not have access to funds, so we give them concessional rates. On other issues, we will certainly work,” he said.
The report stated that the control room register is neither being maintained properly nor being verified by the additional director regularly. “Various instances were observed where the details of the show held were not recorded. Also, since bookings are made in advance, it is difficult to ascertain when the payment of rent and security deposit was made,” the report said. Even with regard to advance bookings, it was stated that in some cases, the bookings for the shows were made much in advance, that is six to seven months before the show, whereas as per rules, bookings could be made only 90 days before the show.
“It is advised that the Tagore Theatre Society should strictly adhere to rules and accept bookings within 90 days before the show,” it stated. The report stated that for certain groups, the society didn’t charge even for excess time that was taken. “As per rules of Tagore Theatre Society, a time slot shall mean to be a period of four hours. Transgressing this time limit beyond ten minutes and upto half an hour will attract additional charges for half an hour,” it said. However, no additional charges were recovered from seven such organisations which organised the event beyond the said time slot.