DINAJPUR. Nov 10 : Cinema halls in the district town are facing closure. U is learnt that there are five cinema halls namely Lily Cinema. Bostan Cinema, Modern Talkies. Chaurangl Cinema and BDR auditorium. It to reported that of late the business of cinema at Dinajpur town has become dull. Fall in the number of cinegoers in comparison to previous years due to economic recession high price of essential commodities and some other factors were attributed to the dull business of cinema halls.

Besides. Indian Hindi telcvi sion programmes from New Delhi and Bangla programmes from Calcutta television are clearly visible In Dinaipur which are being relayed from Curshiong. Haldlbari. Kaliaganj, Maid ha and Kutchbihar centres In India. Above all high rent of the picture and large scale VCR shows hit the cln

ema business.

There is no industry in Dinajpur. A small number or rickshawapullers and labourers of godowns, rice mills and bidi factories regularly enjoy cinema shows but due to recent natural calamities earning of these people has declined and they can hardly afford to enjoy a single show in a month. These cinema halls are dependent on cine goers from adjacent villages where poverty and misery prevail round the year. The hall owners can hardly earn profit by showing one or two pictures. On the other hand a large amount of government revenue la lying unpaid since July. 1986 by most cinema halls of the district. Electric bills are also lying unpaid. Recently the power connections of one cinema hall was disconnected due to nonpayment of the bills. Moreover cinema hall employees are not getting their monthly salary.