Civic body in search of halls for stay of paramilitary companies

According to a Chennai Corporation official, they had a direction to prepare as many as 24 community halls in the city. “We were told that 24 companies of paramilitary forces are visiting the city and we must arrange for their stay,” the official said.

The Chennai Corporation officials, along with the city police, is visiting the community halls to check the facilities available at the halls. Once the 24 community halls are selected by the police, the civic officials would block those halls and the halls would be closed for public use.

Meanwhile, the official said that the civic body usually blocks the community halls during monsoon season to provide shelter to the people affected by the heavy rains. “However, we would let the public conduct functions if there was no sign of rains. This time, too, we will allow the public till the day paramilitary forces arrive. We will also cancel the pre-booked community halls with prior information,” he added.

When asked on how could they cancel the bookings made by the public after collecting charges, the official explained that the permission letter itself has laid the condition enabling the civic body to take over the community halls if the need arises. “But we will refund the entire amount collected from them.”

The official assured, “if any nearby community hall remains unoccupied, we will also allow the public to conduct the function there. We will also inform the public about the blocking of the halls at the time when they come to book the particular halls.”

The civic body maintains as many as 67 community halls with rent amount ranging from Rs 1,400 to Rs 2,15,000 (excluding GST).