Other States - Orissa   

OFDC reeling under fund crunch

Shyamhari Chakra

Yet to pay Rs 2-cr worth subsidy to producers

BHUBANESWAR: Seems it's time to script an obituary of the three-decade-old Orissa Film Development Corporation (OFDC). The Orissa government undertaking, that was set up to act as a catalyst for rapid growth of the film industry, is yet to pay subsidy to the tune of Rs. 2 crores to producers.

A sinking ship, OFDC owes Rs. 1crore to the Government and as a result the government has refused to bail it out of its resource crunch. It has not been able to recover Rs. 2.5 crores from the film producers and cinema hall owners, who have availed term and soft loans. It has filed 108 cases against such erring entrepreneurs, but has only been successful in closing 29 so far. A subsidiary of the OFDC, Kalinga Studios Limited has not been able to pay salary to its employees regularly for the past nine years.

OFDC has spelt out 14 objectives for promotion of cinema in Orissa but its activities have hardly met those tall promises. It includes holding of regional, children's, foreign and documentary film festivals; grant-in -aid to cine societies, setting up of film archive, promotion of multiplexes and rationalisation of entertainment tax structure.

The joint press conference convened by the OFDC chairperson and the managing directoron Saturday here could be an indication of this house in disarray. While the chairperson requested the waiting mediapersons to wait for arrival of the managing director, the latter did not turn up much to the embarrassment of the producer-turned- chairperson.

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