The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Vellore News : Vellore Collector visits Anna Kalai Arangam, discusses measures to increase income

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Sunday, Jul 04, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Vellore

Vellore Collector visits Anna Kalai Arangam, discusses measures to increase income

By Our Staff Reporter

VELLORE, JULY 3. The Vellore Collector, S. Gopalakrishnan, visited the Anna Kalai Arangam, run by the Department of Information and Public Relations, at the Officers' Line here on Wednesday and discussed with officials measures to improve its income.

The land on which the arangam is built, was originally taken on a 5-year lease by Thimmaiah of Mysore in 1939. He screened films in the theatre, which he constructed. He kept extending the lease for 10-year and 5-year periods till 1968 when the State Government took over the theatre and named it as Anna Kalai Arangam. Since then, the Government has been screening children's films and other feature films. After being closed for some months for repairs, it was renovated in 1978.

Under the administration of the Department of Information and Public Relations, the theatre obtained films from the Vellore District Film Distributors Association on a rotation and screened them with a minimum fare of Rs. 8 for the first class, Rs. 6 for the second class and Rs. 4 for the third class. It remitted the highest entertainment tax among all theatres in the town, totalling Rs. 4 lakhs every year to the Commercial Taxes Department. The auditorium was also given on rent for functions by schools and private organisations.

Following a recent letter from the Director of Information and Public Relations, seeking a report from the Collector on ways to improve the income of the theatre, Mr. Gopalakrishnan visited the arangam. The income-generating measures included construction of shops on the open space, construction of a mini-conference hall on the first floor and fixing of new seats in the balcony.

Later talking to newspersons, the Collector said it was mandatory on the part of the owners of cinema halls in the district to screen Government documentary films immediately before the exhibition of the main film. Action would be taken against the owners of those cinemas, which failed to screen the documentaries.

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