To generate revenue and make optimum use of its assets, the Custodian Department is outsourcing its three marriage halls in Jammu and Kashmir from the financial year beginning 2018.

The custodian department which is the guardian of Evacuee property across the state has constructed three modern marriage halls on the evacuee property in the Sanatnagar, Kathidarwaza in Srinagar and Udheywala in Jammu for revenue generation.

Officials said that these spacious halls have been built over the years for holding functions like marriages and other big events in the cities.

Following the diminishing public spaces and halls in the cities of Jammu and Srinagar for holding marriage functions, the custodian department came up with the idea of building modern halls, which are like star hotels, for renting out to people for functions.

Udheywala marriage hall in Jammu has been built up on an area of 30890 Sft and has been constructed on custodian land at a cost of Rs 10.77 crore. The hall was thrown recently open by the department this year.

“We will outsource the marriage halls from the financial year beginning next year (2018). It will increase revenue from these halls for the department and will enable us to maintain transparency in renting it,” Custodian General, Jammu and Kashmir, Aijaz Ahmad Bhat, told a local news gathering agency.

The department has been renting these halls to the public over the years for revenue generation for the department. For example, in year 2016, despite unrest, the marriage hall in Sanatnagar generated more than Rs 60 lakh revenue from marriage functions.

“The outsourcing will be done through tendering. The private parties will give more publicity to the halls than the department has been doing, so it will attract more people for holding functions in these halls,” Bhat said. 

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