PMC schools can use auditoriums for free

PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation’s big professional auditoriums will now be available for free to the municipal-run schools, giving its students a bigger platform to showcase their talents. The PMC’s standing committee, on Wednesday, approved the proposal. The school education board will now chalk out a plan to organise the events. The auditoriums will be allotted to the schools based on the available slots.The civic body has eight auditoriums including Balgandharva, Yashwantrao Chavan auditorium and Annabhau Sathe hall. “The schools usually organise their programmes on their premises. Pandals or a temporary stage is erected for such events. With the auditoriums available for free, schools can save money and it will also reduce the safety issues that crop up with these events,” said Ashwini Kadam, chairman of standing committee. The PMC school board runs around 310 schools including Marathi, English, Urdu and Kannada medium. Over one lakh students study in these schools. The committee also approved Rs 5 crore for road works in the city which will be mostly used for road restoration work. It has also approved Rs 50 lakh to buy swine flu drugs.