Chandigarh: Unveiled 4 yrs ago, open-air theatre awaits maiden show

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, November 6

Nearly four years after the open-air theatre was inaugurated in Sector 48 with much fanfare by then Mayor Davesh Moudgil, the facility has been lying deserted and in disuse.

The site seems to have been abandoned after the inauguration. The entire area is covered with wild growth and there is no proper entrance to the facility. After much effort, a Chandigarh Tribune team had to walk through the bushes to gain access. Right outside the theatre, construction equipment and vehicles were found dumped.

Conceived as theme park

Advertisement

• Project comprising open-air theatre, a park and a mini-rose garden was part of a theme park or a recreational centre for southern sector residents
• MP Kirron Kher laid foundation stones in Dec 2017. Park was to come up on 7.34 acres with 1.76 km footpath and 1,596 sq m parking area for 70 cars
• However, not even a single event has been held at the theatre. It’s not even listed on MC website for booking at Sampark centres
• Work on the park too seems to have been left incomplete with the area now being taken over by wild growth

Rs 4.81 cr allocated under amrut

• 1,558 sq mX Theatre area
• 500 Seating capacity
• 5.05 acre Green belt area

The Municipal Corporation had built the facility to enable artistes from the city and neighbouring areas to showcase their talent, making it a recreational centre for public, especially those living in the southern sectors.

However in the past four years, not even a single event has been organised here. In fact, the facility is not even listed on the MC website for booking at Sampark centres.

Will take it up with Adviser: Councillor

The matter has been brought to my knowlege. I am going to take it up at a meeting with the UT Adviser on Monday. —Rajinder Kumar Sharma, Area councillor

“After being built, it was never used. We are revamping it and will soon make it available for use,” says an MC official, who had engaged workers to clear grass from the seating area. Workers said they had been assigned the task after the authorities received certain complaints. JJ Singh, president, Residents Welfare Association (RWA), Sector 48, laments: “The MC has not even taken over the facility from the contractor. A family, seemingly allowed by the contractor, resides on the premises. Even the pavement and pathway tiles at the park have been stolen. The theatre is in a shambles with no one to take care of it.”

Mayor Moudgil, the then councillor, said the project comprising the open-air theatre, a park and a mini-rose garden was part of a theme park. These were to be built under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). Theatre’s electric sound system alone had cost Rs 20 lakh. Separate green room for men and women with attached toilets had been planned.

However, work on the park was left unfinished and that on the mini-rose garden never began. “I had inaugurated the open-air theatre and park under the project, while the rose garden was yet to be built. I had brought this project for the southern sectors as there was no recreational facility for the residents. The theatre would have also generated funds to the MC. But the civic body failed to run or maintain it after I left,” he claimed.