Urban and rural local governments in the State are gearing up for a direct intervention in cinema ticketing as part of their resource mobilisation initiative. The present system of local governments sealing on the tickets provided by exhibitors would be scrapped and corporations, municipalities and panchayats would start issuing printed tickets at the tariff fixed by each cinema house as per demand.
Entertainment tax collection being a prime responsibility and a cardinal source of revenue for local governments, the latest proposal is expected to plug the loss in this score and shore up local bodies’ income. The Fifth State Finance Commission as well as the Expenditure Review Committee had flayed the local governments for their laxity in mopping up entertainment tax as well as other revenue sources.
Official sources told The Hindu here that only 15 per cent of the tickets issued by exhibitors are being sealed and the local governments were incurring substantial revenue loss because of this. The number of movie halls in the State had dwindled from 1,560 to 520. Their combined seating capacity has been put at 2.5 lakh.
e-ticketing follies
An e-ticketing system proposed earlier had to be shelved in the face of a dispute among trade bodies and major procedural lapses. The previous government had identified a private agency for developing the software for launching the system and the agency was allowed to collect a toll of 25 paise per ticket as service charge for five years.
The proposal had to be shelved in the wake of the Finance Department’s objection that it was not initiated through the tender route and lacked transparency. Thus the government decided to go for a fresh bid. But the new tender was silent on the 25 paise toll fixed earlier.
The new bidders, including the agency that was granted the clearance earlier, reportedly quoted an enhanced rate of 50 paise and another agency quoted Rs.1.90 per ticket.
The glaring lapses in the tender conditions are likely to be subjected to a detailed scrutiny soon, sources said.
While the proposal remains entangled in legal wrangles, local governments are exploring the fresh option, sources said.
