The wait for shopping mall-cum-multiplexes in place of traditional single screen theatres in the city is set to get longer,with four out of the five most awaited multiplexes located in prime sectors of the city not even near completion. The only multiplex which is due to start operations in June is Piccadilly multiplex,which is about 90 per cent complete. We will start operations from June 1. The multiplex will have three screens and we are not going to rent out the screens, said Picadilly Resorts owner Shyam Sunder Sharma. Instead,we will run these ourselves. There would be a shopping arcade spread over two storeys in the building, he added. The other four projects still hanging fire for one reason or the other are the TDI mall in place of Jagat Theatre,KC Theatre and Neelam Theatre all in Sector 17,besides Kiran Theatre in Sector 22. While Jagat Theatre,which was the first one to be converted into a shopping mall-cum-multiplex is complete,it has been mired in a controversy which erupted following a 2-feet encroachment on government land in 2010. The UT Estate Office (EO) had even sent a notice to Taneja Developers,highlighting serious building violations in the complex,mentioning the front facade of the building built over an area that included 2 feet of government land. Various other violations,including inadequate width of ramp inside the building and certain condonable violations,are also mentioned in the notice. In 2011,the then Assistant Estate Officer had regularised the violation after taking the compounding fee pertaining to construction on government land measuring 2 feet but the controversy refused to die down,with senior UT functionaries questioning the powers of the AEO to condone the violation. Since then,the project is gathering dust and no decision has been taken on the matter. Other than this,the building plans for the KC Theatre and Neelam Theatre have been approved by the Advisory Committee. UT Estate Office sources said that their building plans would be released soon. KC Theatre too was caught in a dispute over the structural design of the multiplex which has to be constructed in its place. KC theatre had a dome shaped structure and when the first building plan was submitted to the Estate Office in this regard,the dome shape was missing. Sources said that the UT authorities rejected the plan and asked the firm to submit a revised building plan in a manner that the original shape of the structure is retained. However,the ambitious project of redoing the citys oldest theatre in the city,Kiran Theatre in Sector 22,into a plush multiplex may not see the light of day as the entire sector has been declared a heritage sector and the Administrations efforts to preserve the character of this sector are proving a roadblock in the conversion of the theatre Sources said that the approximate budget of redoing each of the two theatres into multiplexes is Rs 80 crore-90 crore. However,with the escalation of costs of construction and infrastructure,the budget is likely to touch Rs 100 crore for each of the projects, informed an official associated with the project.
