RAWALPINDI, Sept 6: In a city where cinema entertainment is on its last leg, the authorities on Thursday decided to demolish another motion picture house - Rose Cinema - for expanding the building of the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital.

Provincial Health Minister Chaudhry Mohammed Iqbal, who visited the hospital on the request of its administration on Thursday, directed the Rawal Town municipal administration to demolish the cinema house for the expansion of the hospital.

The management of the hospital and the cinema owners have been at loggerheads over the existence of the cinema house in front of the hospital with the former demanding bulldozing of the cinema building.

Located at the historic Raja Bazaar, Rose Cinema has been providing entertainment facility to the residents and is the only house in the locality after the demolition of Naz Cinema in Waris Khan along the Murree Road.

The health minister was told by doctors at the hospital that there was a strong resistance from the cinema owners against the razing of the building. However, the minister assured them that he would convince Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi about the inconvenience of patients due to the cinema.

Cinema industry in the city has witnessed a sharp decline and cinemas like Gulistan, Kehkashan, Naadir, Satellite, Naz and Riyalto have been demolished.

In case Rose Cinema is also brought down, the residents of the city areas would have to move to the cantonment areas to watch a movie where some cinema houses still exist.