Ramlila committees in Capital to pay less rent for venues: BJP

New Delhi: Ramlila committees in Delhi will have to pay less rent for venues and get required permissions from various civic agencies without any hassle, BJP leaders said after a meeting with Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena on Friday.

They also claimed the timing of Ramlila programmes will be extended from 10 pm to 12 midnight so that people can take their families to watch them after returning from work.

The lieutenant governor, in a tweet, said he issued on-the-spot instructions to the agencies concerned to resolve issues and simplify the process of obtaining licences after meeting a delegation of Ramilal committees.

"Met Delegations of Ramlila Committees & discussed issues related to smooth organisation of Ramlilas in the City. Issued on-spot instructions to concerned agencies to resolve issues & simplify the processes of obtaining NOC/licenses etc for the same," he tweeted.

Addressing a press conference, Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta claimed the lieutenant governor had directed officials for slashing the rent of grounds for Ramlilas from Rs 66 per square feet to Rs 15.

The delegation included Gupta, West Delhi BJP MP Parvesh Verma, Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, BJP state general secretary and Delhi Dharmik Mahasangh general secretary Ashok Goel Devraha and members of some Ramlila committees. Verma said civic officials were also directed to ensure that the problems of Ramlila committees were addressed and required permissions and licences were issued to them without any problem.

Gupta said a single window system for permissions and a system of online applications may be developed for facilitating the Ramlila committees.

The BJP also claimed that a bank guarantee which was needed to be given to the land owning agencies for holding Ramlilas will also be done away with. "Earlier the Ramlila committees had to spend lakhs of rupees on booking grounds only but now it will be done in a few thousand rupees," Verma said.