Mangaluru : The renovated Town Hall here will be ready by the end of next month, the sitting capacity will come down by 108 seats.

According to a senior official in the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC), earlier the hall had 1,008 seats including in the ground floor and in the balcony. After the renovation, it would have 900 seats.

The official said that when the renovation is complete, the hall would have new modern type push back seats which would consume more space when compared to the old chairs.

He said that provision would be made in the balcony to put 150 extra chairs whenever needed by those who have hired the hall.

Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim, Mayor Jacintha Vijaya Alfred, and Mangaluru City North MLA B.A. Mohiuddin Bava inspected the renovation works on Monday.

Speaking to media on the occasion N. Shiva Shankar Swami, Deputy Commissioner (Development) said that the hall would be ready by October-end.

Srinivas, a representative of a company which has bagged the contract of acoustic, sound, false ceiling and wall panelling works said that when the hall would be ready there was no need to sue mike stands on the stage. It would particularly help in cultural performances like Yakshagana, plays and dance as huge mike stands would not disturb audience.

He said that works allotted to the company would be over by October 5.

Mr. Swami that the civil works of the hall allotted to the Nirmiti Kendra would be over by October 15. He said that estimation on asphalting the parking areas of the hall and for lawn works was being prepared now.

Those works would be taken up later. He said that the hall was being renovated at a cost of Rs. 3.5 crores.

A proposal of the State government seeking Rs. 14 crore for building a ‘ranga mandira’ at Bondel here has been pending with the Union government for about seven months, according to A.B. Ibrahim, Deputy Commissioner.

He told presspersons here on Monday that the State government had proposed to contribute Rs. 10 crore for the ‘ranga mandira’ for which about seven acres was available.

To a question, he said that about 10 acre was available at Bondel for constructing a ground for practising cricket. A cricket stadium would not be built there, he said.