Mayor Thottathil Raveendran has said that reports on increase in rental tariff on public halls in the city have caused misunderstanding among the public.

In a clarification issued here on Monday, the Mayor pointed out that the rentals on halls had not been revised over the last five years, and that the corporation was struggling to find funds to maintain them.

Besides, with the implementation of GST, the civic body lost several of its revenue sources such as entertainment tax.

The council was forced to increase the rental tariff on halls in such a situation out of desperation, he said.

He strongly criticised a section of the media for wrongly citing the revised rental tariff for the Town Hall as ₹7,000 per day.

He said though the finance standing committee had suggested that the rent, which was ₹1,000 per day, be increased to ₹3,000, the council felt it was too high, and hence the rate was fixed at ₹2,000. The rent is only ₹1,500 for political and cultural organisations, Mr. Raveendran said in a press release.