thiruvananthapuram the toilets here may be stinky and the seats itchy but the ticket fares at cinema halls in the city are set for a rise the finance standing committee of the city corporation has decided to increase ticket fares for movie theatres that fall under the gold and silver categories by a generous 2530 the decision was finalized during a meeting of the finance standing committee held on saturday the meeting reviewed the inspection report compiled by the a team from the corporation the team had conducted inspections in several city theatres over the last one month as per the revised fare list the maximum hike stands at 36 while the minimum is 25 in april 12 theatres had requested for a hike in ticket prices at the rate of rs 2030 per ticket the owners had pointed out that the disparity in ticket fares between platinumrated and goldrated cinema halls had led to an enormous difference in the profit made by theatres of the 12 theatres that had applied for fare hike nine will hike the ticket charge by rs 30 this means that the balcony charge which is currently rs 60 will go up to rs 90 including service charges firstclass seats will also register a hike with rates set to increase from rs 50 to rs 80 the remaining three theatres will have to be content with hikes in the range of rs 2025 the existing charge of rs 45 for firstclass seats will become rs 70 while theatres that charge rs 50 for firstclass seats will hike the rate by rs 20 making the revised rate rs 70 the revised list will be presented at the council meeting which is expected to be held in the last week of september the city corporations generosity towards theatres comes at a time when most cinema halls especially those that fall under the silver and silver plus categories have been facing flak from movie buffs for poor viewing conditions a member of the corporation finance standing committee requesting anonymity said that the conditions in many theatres were pathetic when the matter came up before the committee for discussion some of the members put forward an alternative saying that the rates could be increased in a phased manner which would correspond with the upgradation of facilities in each theatre however the suggestion was turned down and the committee stood by its decision to go for a single steep hike in ticket fares when asked if the decision was a fair one deputy mayor and chairman of finance standing commitee g happy kumar said that the corporation was just trying to help out a struggling industry there were scarcely any viewers when we visited many theatres it has become a question of survival we have decided to increase the fares on the condition that the theatres would immediately upgrade the facilities they provide said happy kumar