nagpur even though union minister nitin gadkari has asked nagpur municipal corporation nmc to make available suresh bhat auditorium for a minimal rent of rs5000 the civic body is finding it difficult to keep the pleaseall charges the meagre rental will force the cashstrapped nmc to divert development funds for the maintenance of the rs73 crore hallafter gadkaris announcement to keep the rent affordable the standing committee too is under pressure to fix the rent in order to promote cultural activities in the city and nmc is not constrained to divert development fund for its maintenance rent should be fixed keeping that aspect in mind said sourcesadmitting this a senior official confirmed that the civic body has prepared an estimate to fix its rent and it will be tabled before the standing committee this week the nmc only expects to maintain the architectural marvel out of the rent generated the official said we have prepared an estimate needed for the maintenance of the luxurious auditorium it can only be maintained if we charge rs20000 as rent and get at least 20 bookings a monthwe have also been trying to provide this hall for cultural programmes by charging the minimum rent while higher tariffs will be for commercial ventures the officer said the rates of the auditorium for cultural art and educational events are likely to be around rs1100020000 for three hours rates for commercial conferences and events will be around rs50000 gadkari had suggested the nmc to keep rs5000 as rent for cultural art and educational events however this is not feasible to meet the operations and maintenance cost said the officialto a query the officer said the civic body has already started receiving requests for bookings due to its seating capacity of 2000 people stateoftheart facilities sprawling parking and affordable rates