Liza Sinojia
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru

Mangaluru, Jun 17: In a bid to enhance transparency and convenience to the people and local artiste, Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) has decided to take the online route for Town Hall booking. The exercise though, will be carried out on a trial basis for about a year and will commence soon, MCC mayor Kavita Sanil said.

"The online-booking service will provide equal opportunity to everyone to hold social, cultural, entertainment or informative programme. In case of cancellation of the allotted slots due government programmemes, the affected parties can get an advanced update through the APP based system, instead of last minute intimation," she said.

Officials at the MCC further added that the 'online-booking' would dissuade underhand dealings that take place in the traditional reservation system. "A few influential artistes used their personal contacts to book the hall, replace booking or indulge in bulk-booking, thereby denying opportunity to others. In some cases, they held a slot and at final moment cancelled their engagement without any repercussion, which was unfair," they added.

However, the mayor said that despite the mobile based APP book, the offline booking of Town hall will also be entertained.

Besides, the artistes and the performers were almost unanimous in drawing the attention of the mayor over the spike in the deposit amount of Town Hall booking to Rs 53,000. Nityananda Rao, secretary from Manikrishna Swamy Academy said, already when are charged Rs. 12,000 per slot, what is the need to charge additional deposit of Rs 53,000. "We are here to promote local art and talents. We don't have huge public response nor sponsors. The local government must support such traditional art-forms by waving such unnecessary charges," Rao said.

At a meeting convened for the artiste and cultural performers, Kavita Sanil said she also took note of artiste demands including the reintroduction of the advanced booking period of six months against the current two month window.

The MCC mayor also said that the City Corporation will also look into the inconvenience caused to the artistes due to the recent renovation work at the Town Hall premise.