Corpn hall closure has residents scurrying for costly venues

(Rep image)

The marriage hall of Trichy Corporation at Ponmalai, which was used by residents for an affordable rent, has been closed for about a year now forcing them to depend on expensive private marriage halls to conduct events. Though the civic body maintains that the facility was closed for renovation after the building was declared unsafe by the authorities, the hall has not seen any renovation work so far.

Situated on the Ponmalaipatti Road near Ponmalai police station, the 5,000-square feet corporation marriage hall was rented out by the Ponmalaipatti and Kottapattu residents to conduct weddings and other family functions. The hall being maintained by Trichy Corporation was built when Ponmalai was a municipality. Later it was added to the corporation in 1994. The two-decade-old building could accommodate 500 people at a time and was helpful for railway employees residing in Ponmalai to host retirement functions as the rent was only around Rs 6,000 per day.

Late in 2017, Trichy Corporation shut down the facility for renovation after finding the ceiling and a few pillars of the hall deteriorated. However, the renovation work never took off even after a year has passed. "In the absence of the corporation’s marriage hall, Ponmalai residents, mostly railway employees, had to turn to private halls that charge about Rs 30,000 a day. Besides forcing residents to pay more, the city corporation has been losing revenue by way of rent for more than a year," K C Neelamegam, a resident of Ponmalai, said. Residents of ward number 36 and 32 in Ponmalai zone echoed the same view as they prefer the defunct marriage hall to host small family events such as ear-piercing ceremony and marriage anniversaries.

Civic body sources acknowledged that maintenance work was not initiated even a year after the closure of the marriage hall. "We are awaiting funds to commence the renovation. A decision is yet to be taken on dismantling the hall completely to build a new marriage hall with more facilities," an official with the civic body said. The corporation has maintained that they have consulted with NIT-Trichy on the prospects of the closed facility while it waits for funds from the state government to reopen it.