CHENNAI: Members of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) on Saturday staged a demonstration against Greater Chennai Corporation's move to hand over the operation of Amma Arangam at Shenoy Nagar and Sir Pitty Thyagaraya Hall in T Nagar after hiking the rent steeply.

In a recent council meeting, GCC adopted a resolution to lease out the halls for five years and contractors shall be entitled to collect a revised tariff from users. The full-day rent for the 20,000 sqft Amma Arangam Hall has been hiked from Rs 3.4 lakh to Rs 5.4 lakh for a 24-hour booking, while for Thyagaraya Hall it has been hiked from Rs 20,650 to Rs 59,000 a day.

DYFI Central Chennai district secretary K Manikandan led the demonstration in front of the corporation Zone 8 of- fice at Shenoy Nagar raising slogans against the rent hike and the decision to lease out the hall to private contractors.

In a memorandum submitted to the corporation zonal officer, they demanded the civic body reconsider the deci- sion to privatise the halls as it would not cater to all sec- tions of the people. "We demand the government to scrap the resolution and reduce the rental prices so it would ben- efit large number of people," it said.