Now, book GCC community halls at zonal offices

From now on, residents can book community halls for marriages and other functions at their respective zonal offices. Hitherto, bookings for community halls were made only at the Ripon Buildings.

“Residents, especially those who live in the extended zones, are facing difficulties while booking community halls. Due to this, bookings are lower in the extended zones,” a Chennai Corporation council resolution said.

The resolution added that the residents could book the halls at the Revenue sections at the zonal offices.

In total, the Corporation maintains 62 community halls, of which 33 are in the central region. North and south regions have 15 and 14 halls respectively. Apart from these, the civic body maintains three auditoriums.

Chennai Corporation collects charges from users based on basic street rate of property tax and size of the hall. Charges fixed for some of the community halls are as low as Rs 1,000. However, residents should pay 18 per cent GST.

The civic body had already introduced an online facility for residents to check the availability of community halls. Residents should book the halls within 6 months before the date of the event.

In 2018-19 financial year, the Corporation had earned around Rs 2 crore as rentals from community halls. However, the revenue from the halls have decreased in the past two years owing to the pandemic.