Surat: Members of the Society for City Centric Governance (SCCG), a city-based non-governmental organization (NGO), and staff members of a multiplex cinema in Adajan, came face-to-face when the latter did not allow home food and water bottles inside the hall here on Saturday.
SCCG members entered Cinepolis multiplex with home food to protest against inaction on the part of the administration and the state government to implement the Cinema Regulation Act, 2014, which prohibits cinema owners from hawking and flouting ticket norms.
SCCG president Arpit Shukla told TOI, “We were not allowed to enter the cinema hall with home food and water. As we had not taken permission from the police department, our protest programme will now be held next week.”
It must be noted that Bombay High Court has allowed home food at cinema halls and asked Maharashtra government’s home department to formulate rules. The order was passed on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Jainendra Baxi.
Shukla said, “Most of the multiplexes and cinema halls in the city flout building norms of the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC). The cinema halls do not possess food licences, but most of them are operating restaurants in the areas reserved for emergency exit for the viewers.”
The cinema hall owners argue that they can’t allow food inside the hall because if anything happens during the show, they would be held responsible. They prefer viewers purchasing hygienic food from their restaurants inside the hall.
RTI activist Rajesh Modi told TOI, “The viewers have the right to carry home food inside cinema halls. As per the Gujarat Cinema Regulation Act, hawking is not allowed inside the cinema hall, still you get food delivered on your seat by restaurants inside the hall. The entry and exit doors are shut when the show starts, which is illegal. If a fire incident takes place, people would not be able to find the exit way.”
The cinema halls restrict patrons from bringing outside food and thus resort to profiteering by charging more than the maximum retail price (MRP) for food products sold inside the cinema halls. A water bottle costs Rs 40, which is available for Rs 10 and Rs 20 in open market, he added.
