Hasta La Motion!

The agency for undertaking civil construction work of the National Centre of Excellence for Animation, Gaming and Special Effects has not been completed in the fourth quarter of 2016-17 as planned.

However, sources in the Indian Institute of Mass Communications which is handling the project told AnimationXpress that the land had been identified and senior officials of the IIMC had already visited the area in the Film City in Goregaon in Mumbai.

While indicating that the civil construction will be undertaken by the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) as it had also been involved with the National Film Museum, the sources said that the final decision will be taken after the process of handing over if the land by the Maharashtra Government is completed in the first quarter of 2017-18.

Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology which also examines issues relating to Information and Broadcasting Ministry was told that one of the reasons for the shortfall in usage of the allocation of the film sector for 2016-17 was the delay in late approval and prolonged inter-ministerial consultations and request for proposal for selection of private partners in setting up of the Centre.

A sum of just Rs 835.6 million out of a reduced revised estimate of Rs 1.3439 billion was utilised in the film sector in 2016-17 because of various reasons.

Deliverables for the year 2017-18 should be identified to make efforts to achieve the physical targets made under the scheme for the Centre by productive utilisation of enhanced budget of Rs 600 million, the Committee said.

Wanting the project to be completed at the earliest to achieve the avowed objective, the Committee said that the Public-Private Partnership Model in this field is a welcome move from the side of the Ministry and would certainly help the sector grow at a better pace.

The main secretariat for this Centre was approved by the Standing Finance Committee (SFC) on 27 December 2016. As a result the entire budget for the film sector has been increased in 2017-18 to Rs 2.07 billion at budget estimate stage, which is more than the allocation made at BE during the previous year.

The Committee was told that the budgetary allocation of Rs. 51 million for 2016-17 under the Scheme was reduced to Rs 10 million at the revised estimates stage of which the Ministry have not incurred any expenditure as on 31 January 2017. The Scheme was approved with a total outlay of Rs 1.677 billion on 1 November 2011.

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