Cinema halls opens with 50 percent capacity in Maharashtra

Mumbai, Oct 22: After being closed for six months, cinema halls in Maharashtra reopened on Friday. The state government has given permission for the operations with 50 percent capacity.

At a press meet, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar said that there was a demand from cinema hall owners for the reopening of theatres with 100 percent capacity.

"We have re-opened theatres with 50% capacity from today. The theatre owners are demanding to reopen with 100% seating capacity but we have told them to wait till Diwali. After Diwali if situation is under control, then we'll increase the capacity," news agency ANI quotes Ajit Pawar as saying.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on 25 September announced that cinema halls and drama theatres in the state can operate from October 22 on the condition that they follow all the protocols required to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

He took the decision after a meeting with the Covid-19 task force which also had the participation of Shiv Sena''s Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut, state chief secretary Sitaram Kunte, filmmakers Rohit Shetty and Kunal Kapoor, theatre personality Makarand Deshpande, Marathi actors Subodh Bhave, Aadesh Bandekar, among others.

The theatres had remained shut between March and November, last year.

The theatres were closed again in April 2021 following the second wave of Covid-19.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra reported 1,573 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday with 39 deaths. A total of 2,968 people recovered while there are still 24,292 active cases in the state.

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the state has witnessed 1,39,925 deaths, as per the latest data provided by the Maharashtra government.