Council Hall becomes a 'B' hive

BANGALORE: After a long silence, the Kempegowda Council Hall is bustling with activity, thanks to the BBMP election.
The 'Kempegowda Poura Bhavana' is being renovated to accommodate 198 corporators, who will fight for the council seats. The hall was inaugurated in 1995. The earlier dark-purple seats have been replaced by spanking new dark-orange velvet-cushion seats. Now, the hall has 273 seats in five rows facing the raised platform, where mayors and office-bearers will sit.
All wooden chairs have been fixed too. Electrical contractors are at work, installing podium mikes (gosmik mikes) on the tables; they can be turned to any direction. There are 150 mikes, each for two persons.
The hall boasts of new wooden flooring even as the balcony still has old carpets. There are eight new speakers installed at the hall, with six on the roof and two on the floor. Apart from the fixed mikes, there are wireless mikes in case they are needed.
Manoj Kumar, who is supervizing over the public address system being installed at the hall, said: "All wires from the fixed mikes will be concealed in the flooring, and will be kept in a single box at a corner in the balcony. One operative can look after the whole addressing system."
A BBMP official said Rs 93 lakh has been spent on renovating the entire council hall. The work, which started three weeks ago, will take another week to complete, though the deadline was Monday, said a worker.