A proposal in this regard was passed in the standing committee meeting to outsource halls in Meher Chand market, Gaushala Road, Katwaria Sarai and Hastsal.

The South MCD will be outsourcing a portion of its community halls for educational activities, to open banks and ATMs and for installation of mobile towers on rooftops, after it found that 25 of 97 halls are not being regularly booked and incurring more expenditure than income.

The South MCD spends around Rs 6 crore on maintenance of these community halls.

A proposal in this regard was passed in the standing committee meeting to outsource halls in Meher Chand market, Gaushala Road, Katwaria Sarai and Hastsal. Leader of the house of South MCD Narender Chawla said these four halls will be outsourced on a pilot basis and more will be added to the list if the response is good.

“These days, people are holding weddings in banquet halls and hotels leading to fewer takers for community halls…,” said a senior official, adding that location, security, maintenance issues in water supply and electricity at community halls are other factors.

“Even if the rent at community halls is lower than the market rate, people prefer private halls as owners take responsibility and complaints can be redressed quickly,” he said.

The civic agency’s community halls are divided into five categories — A, B, C, D and E. For hiring a hall in category A, people have to pay Rs 42,500, which includes security deposit and cleaning charges. For halls in category B, the cost is Rs 27,000. Community halls in category C cost Rs 22,000, those in category D cost Rs 13,500 while halls in category E cost Rs 8,500.

📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For all the latest Delhi News, download Indian Express App.