MARGAO
Members of the tiatr fraternity have called for expediting the repair work on the Margao Ravindra Bhavan and making the Pai Tiatrist Hall available to stage tiatr at the earliest.
In another development, Chairman of Ravindra Bhavan Rajendra Talak has called for a meeting with the tiatr producers on Thursday to discuss the issue arising out of the decision taken by the management to close the Pai Tiatrist Hall following a report submitted by the PWD post-collapse of the false ceiling.
Veteran tiatrist C D’Silva, along with co-artists Nazario Fernandes and others, told the media at the Ravindra Bhavan that the management and the government should expedite the repair work on the Pai Tiatrist Hall at the earliest.
D’Silva said repair work on the roof of the main auditorium should have been taken up and completed during the Lenten period so that the hall was made available for tiatrists to stage their shows. “Tiatrists spend huge money to bring out a tiatr and hope to recover money from shows staged during the monsoons. But, this time their hopes have been dashed as the Pai Tiatrist Hall remained out of bounds for the tiatr fraternity,” he said.
Tiatrists have pointed out that they have lost the current season, first because Ravindra Bhavan started work on the roofing on May 19, followed by the rains which further delayed the work.
They pointed out that when the Pai Tiatrist hall was scheduled to reopen for tiatr on June 15 after the repairs, the PWD gave a report that the false ceiling had crumbled and it was not safe to hold programmes inside the auditorium sans repairs. “We have lost an entire tiatr season. We have no idea when tiatr shows will resume at the Ravindra Bhavan since there are plans to shut down the auditorium for two months ahead of the IFFI festival,” remarked another tiatrist.
Another director pointed out that tiatr shows staged during the monsoon help them eke a livelihood, adding that the government should make the Pai Tiatrist hall available to tiatrists as early as possible.
