Tenders for mini-theatres at bus stations floated

Theatres screening movies would seat 150 to 200

The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation has floated tenders for construction of mini-theatres which will go with gaming zones for children and food courts at 33 bus stations across the State.

The theatres to screen movies will have a seating capacity of 150 to 200 and will come up over 900 to 1,200 sq yds within the land available in bus station complexes. The contractors would be mandated to construct the facilities in four to five months after the tenders were finalised, corporation Managing Director G.V. Ramana Rao told The Hindu .

He said the theatres would not be a revenue-sharing model between the corporation and selected firms but leased out for 20 years with the lease amount paid on monthly basis. It was decided that the revenue from sale of tickets would go to the firms as the corporation could not be expected to focus attention on the aspect which would affect its core operations. The State Cinematography Act would have to be amended for the theatres to come into existence. The State government was seized of the matter, he added.

The plan for theatres was discussed by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao at a broad-based meeting of RTC officials right down to the level of depot managers in October last year. The meeting discussed steps to bail out the corporation from the red and One of the proposals mooted by Mr. Rao was to start mini-theatres to attract passengers waiting at bus stations by offering entertainment to overcome anxiety.

As many as 14 firms representing film distributors, producers and other verticals in film industry had submitted Expression of Interest to the corporation to start the theatres at 61 locations. But, only 33 stations in erstwhile zones of RTC — Hyderabad and Karimnagar — were selected. The selection of firms would be done zone-wise for uniformity in business.

Besides making money, the RTC contemplated theatres to save its lands that were encroached upon at several places. As the roof tops at many stations did not have constructions, it was felt the theatres could fill space.

The stations where tenders for theatres were invited included Adilabad, Nirmal, Asifabad, Ibrahimpatanm, Khammam, Sattupalli, Kallur (Khammam), Kothagudem, Ramagundam, Peddapalli, Karimnagar, Sircilla, Huzurabad, Dharmapuri, Jagtial, Mahabubnagar, Jadcherla, Shadnagar, Narsapur, Sadasivapet, Sangareddy, Siddipet old bus station, Kodad, Nagarjunasagar, Armoor, Bodhan, Chevella, Tandur, Vikarabad, Jubilee Bus Station at Secunderabad, Kukatpally, Medchal and Station Ghanpur.