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Cinema owners dream mall, govt moolah
CLOSED AND loss-making cinemas want to survive by making way for mega shopping malls and hypermarkets. But, the State Government?s revenue interests are keeping the proposals buried in bureaucratic files.
CLOSED AND loss-making cinemas want to survive by making way for mega shopping malls and hypermarkets. But, the State Government’s revenue interests are keeping the proposals buried in bureaucratic files.
About 15 cinema exhibitors in Lucknow owing properties in the prime locations have plans to get their properties converted into commercial complexes—the first stepping stone towards setting up mega shopping malls and hypermarts.
“Our earlier pleas for getting all the closed and loss-making cinemas converted into commercial complexes have received little response from the State’s bureaucracy. The State Government is still undecided on granting the necessary approvals as it anticipates major revenue losses in terms of stamp duty and entertainment tax collections from the sick cinema in the city,” says UP Cinema Exhibitors Federation General Secretary of Sharad Khandelwal.
He said a delegation of cinema exhibitors is planning to call on Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav for getting all the necessary approvals for setting up commercial.
“We are keen to develop world-class malls and hypermarts in joint association with reputed builders with an open option for tying up with corporate which are entering into the country’s retail space,” Khandelwal says.
The closed cinema halls in prime locations such as Nishat (Kaiserbagh), Odeon, (Kaiserbagh), Ashok (Nakkhas), Mesar in Hazratganj could offer an ideal space for the malls, he says.
Khandelwal said the State Government had earlier proposed setting up a committee for assessing the revenue losses to be suffered by the various departments if the approval was granted for converting all the closed and sick cinema halls into commercial complexes.
“The government could collect twice the amount of revenue from the retailing venture of cinema exhibitors than what it had been collecting as entertainment tax from sick cinemas”, Khandelwal adds.
“Out of 22 cinema halls here, barely 6 have been reporting healthy turnout in terms of cine-goers. The rest have either closed down or are facing financial difficulties. In all a total of 200 cinemas in the State have shut shop,” he says.
Many of the smaller cinema owners who are suffering losses are even keen to buy out additional space near their properties to set up commercial complexes which could be later converted into malls, Khandelwal adds.
