PESHAWAR, Jan 1: Ban on the cultural activities at the Nishtar Hall has been incurring losses on the sole theatre hall of the province.
“From the last three months, there has not been a cultural show which has inflicted losses to the tune of about Rs 300,000 so far,” said an official of the cultural department. According to him, the ban was imposed in view of the public complaints regarding the declining standards of the shows where the organisers allegedly hired dancers from Punjab.
Though the step has been taken in the right direction but it is not the solution and the department should implement the relevant laws and force the organisers of the programmes to conduct their shows in line with the Pakhtoon culture, said a local show business journalist, Fida Mohammad Khan. According to him, this has also forced the local stage artistes to migrate to Punjab, because they were solely dependent on the Nishtar Hall for their sustenance.
Nishtar Hall was established in 1985 at a cost of Rs 15 million in order to provide healthy entertainment to the people. It charged Rs 8,000 per show and earned Rs 80,000 per month, because these shows took place only on Saturdays and Sundays.
The total amount collected from these shows in grossly insufficient given the fact that the government has stopped issuing grants to the Nishtar Hall three years ago and now it has been run on self-sustaining basis. It has to generate over Rs 200,000 a month to meet the expenses of the electricity, telephone and salaries to its 21 employees.
An official of the Sarhad Arts Council, which is an official body appointed by the culture department to run the hall, disclosed that they had been earning millions of rupees from holding musical shows and industrial exhibitions that was evident from the fact that it had presently bank account of Rs 10 million. But, he expressed concern that the stoppage of shows would play havoc with 600-seated Nishtar Hall, because these shows were the only source of income generation.
Likewise, it also needed a huge amount for the maintenance of its bathrooms, seats and rooms, etc. Besides, the hall does not have its own make-up room and script writer. The latter is required to check the scripts of the organisers before programmes are held. Non-existence of gallery has also made the matters worse and there is no place to preserve the master pieces of the art of the local artistes.
It suffered a setback in Eidul Fitr where no show was organised as against the past where the hall earned about Rs 300,000 during the three days of Eid.
Nishtar Hall, which spreads over 24 kanals, has also been hosting literary activities and government functions on the occasions of national festivities. It played an active part in the NWFP centenary celebrations and the people were provided chances to visit the venue on the special days.
As if the ban was not enough, the construction work has also been stopped on the 2,000-seat open theatre which had been inaugurated by Governor Iftikhar Hussain Shah on Sept 6, 2002 on its premises. The open theatre was supposed to be completed in phases at a cost of Rs 40 million.
Some people fear that the step might have been triggered by the MMA-led government, which had already indulged in campaign against cinema houses in the city.