NTC to rebuild Bharatmata

The National Textile Corporation (NTC), which owns the land where Bharatmata Cinema stands, will rebuild it.

The National Textile Corporation (NTC), which owns the land where Bharatmata Cinema stands, will rebuild it.

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In the last three years, the NTC had attempted on several occasions to shut down Bharatmata Cinema — the only Marathi theatre located in the mill area of Lalbaug — several times because its lease agreement ended.

But the Marathi film industry protested the move and joined hands to stop its closure.

“I met Union Textile Minister Dayanidhi Maran in Delhi and he has assured me that NTC would build [the theatre] on its own,” said Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Saturday.

Chavan had expressed the state government’s desire to build the theatre if the Centre was not willing to do do.

Chavan added that the government has made the PL Deshpande mini theatre in Prabhadevi available for screening Marathi films.

The state government is also mulling a cinema hall at Dhobi Talao that will screen Marathi films, but the area is a silence zone and the matter is subjudice, he added.

Shirdi airport bhoomipujan by aug-end

Air travel to Shirdi will soon be reality for Sai Baba devotees.

The bhoomipujan (ceremony marking the start of the project) of the Rs 260-crore project will take place on August 27 at the temple-town in Ahmednagar district.

The project is expected to be completed in two years, said Chavan. The airport is being developed by Maharashtra Airport Development Company.

Chavan added that a direct railway service to Shirdi will also begin by the end of August.