Panel, IIM favour closure of KSFIDC, sale of studio

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, MAY 6. Both the Indian Institute of Management (Bangalore) and the Committee on Public Sector Restructuring have favoured the dissolution of the Karnataka State Film Industry Development Corporation and the revival or privatisation of the Sree Kanteerava Studio.

The committee is also known as the Padmanabha Committee as it is headed by a former Additional Chief Secretary to the Government, Mr. P.Padmanabha.

The KSFIDC, which was established in 1968, had drawn up ambitious plans when Devaraj Urs was the Chief Minister. Its dream project was to establish a film city at Hessarghatta.

The Minister of State for Information, Prof.B.K.Chandrashekar, who has released to the Press the recommendations of the IIM and the committee, said the corporation had accumulated losses of the order of Rs. 2.19 crores. Its annual expenditure stood at Rs. 94.06 lakhs whereas its income was lower at Rs. 78.35 lakhs. It had 25 employees. In addition to them, it was employing 20 persons at the Puttanna Kanagal cinema in Jayanagar which it had taken on lease from the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike. The corporation was spending Rs. 91,000 a month on those working at the cinema.

The Kanteerava Studio, which was founded in 1966, had accumulated losses of the order of Rs. one crore. It was spending Rs. 36 lakhs a year on its 33 employees. Its income was only Rs. 22 lakhs a year. The Government referred the question of privatisation of the studio to the Padmnabha Committee after two private parties offered to take it on lease.

The minister said the IIM was emphatic that the KSFIDC should be closed down and that the studio should be run in ``five different ways'' by either the Government or by the private sector. On the other hand, the Padmanabha Committee had said that the KSFIDC should be closed down ``voluntarily'' under the Companies Act. However, it wanted the Kanteerava Studio to be revived.

About the Puttanna Kanagal cinema, the minister said the corporation was considering its modernisation as the lease would be valid for some more years. There were no doubt, proposals to sell it and one of the offers had come from the Kannada film star, Mr. Vishnuvardhan.

Prof. Chandrashekar said he had no objection on principle to the sale of the cinema. But there were various shades of opinion in the Government on the matter.

He added that the Government was studying the recommendations of the IIM and the Padmanabha Committee and assured that no hasty decision would be taken.

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