Govt to recover Rs 4.93-cr dues from producers

Speaker Dilip Walse-Patil directed cultural affairs minister Sanjay Deotale to ask officials to recover dues worth Rs4.93 crore from film producers and agencies within a month.

Speaker Dilip Walse-Patil directed cultural affairs minister Sanjay Deotale to ask officials to recover dues worth Rs4.93 crore from film producers and agencies within a month.

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The Opposition asked why the government was lax in recovering dues for renting out studios in Film City, Goregaon (East).

Deotale said that since 2005, the Maharashtra Film, Stage and Cultural Development Corporation had been regularly collecting rents. In the two decades up to 2005, outstanding dues had accumulated and the corporation had been able to recover only Rs44 lakh. Nearly Rs2.73 crore were disputed as producers moved court.

When Deotale said he would check legal aspects, Walse-Patil said he had been briefed wrongly. “If there is no legal injunction that stops you from recovery, why has the government not pursued it? You should direct your officials to recover pending amounts within a month and punish those who are lax in carrying this out.”