This petition is aimed at saving our culture space - KH Kala Soudha, which has served people from 2009 till date as a hub for cultural activities like dance, theatre, film and music programs.

Unfortunately, the BBMP's decision to increase the rent of the premises by 4 fold has hit the artists who rent it out, very badly. This huge increase has made it unviable to use this space due to which Kala Soudha has closed it's doors since 5th Feb, 2017.

KH Kala Soudha was being run by Prakasam Trust from 2009 December till date & has seen more than 2500 national/international performances till the date of closure. The rent for hiring the auditorium has remained the same from the beginning.

Rs.3000/show day for a show of 100 minutes & Rs5000/show on weekends. Extra show time use was charged at Rs.1200 per hour post 100 minutes of show. This made the place very affordable & accessible to all Bengalureans.

Post the 5 year lease period BBMP used to temporarily extend the lease period in short durations of 3 to 6 months with a fixed rent of Rs.10000/ month. Post February 5, 2017, the rent was revised along the lines of Town Hall to Rs.40000. In addition to this setback, we habe been informed to pay the arrears of Rs.30k per month which adds up Rs.7.8 lac (7,80,000). This unreasonable condition was not accepted by Prakasam (the team running the center) and the negotiations began. The situation has now reached a stalemate and hence this petition to request the BBMP to reconsider reopening this very important cultural space.

Another important point is that there were 4 bids called for running the space and Prakasam participated in all the bids. However, without any sufficient evidence, the bid was not awarded to Prakasam team. The awardee of the second bid was a no show and Prakasam continued using the same model of monthly rent. This sudden jolt from BBMP has left Prakasam defenceless and this petition is the final attempt to save the place from turning into another disaster like Town hall (with 80000 rent per day, currently Town hall has no cultural performances happening except for religious & political meetings) which is shown to us as the model they based their decision to increase the rent.

Through this petition, we request the authorities to...

1) Reopen KH Kala Soudha with immediate effect.

2) Keep the rentals as it is, allowing all people access to affordable theatre space.

3) Keep KH Kala Soudha strictly dedicated for cultural performances only & ban any other performances.

For any further information please mail khkalasaoudha@gmail.com