New Delhi, Dec 5 : The Common Service Centre (CSC), a special purpose vehicle under the Electronics and IT Ministry, on Monday announced that it would open 500 cinema halls in rural areas by March 2023. CSC e-Governance Services India Limited has partnered with October Cinemas to take the entertainment through CSC rural cinema to rural areas. The partnership is aimed at opening nearly one lakh small movie theatres in rural areas. By the end of 2023, around 1,500 cinema halls will be operational across India. These cinema halls with a seating capacity of nearly 100-200 people will also act as a hub of various CSC activities in rural areas. Commenting on the new initiative, CSC Managing Director (MD) Sanjay Kumar Rakesh, said, "The concept of cinema halls in villages is still new. The aim is to start small cinema halls with around 100 seats. CSC cinema halls will open new avenues for our VLEs (Village level Entrepreneur). Entertainment sector is booming in India and our VLEs will help in the growth of the sector in rural and semi-urban areas. CSC cinema halls, which will also work as a commercial hub, will make our services more accessible to the people in rural areas." The official added that the venture will have features to control piracy of films. "We will provide all hardware and software equipment to VLEs who run the CSC. An investment of around Rs 15 lakh is needed to run these cinema halls which will have video parlour cinema licence." "We have already got over 5,000 expressions of interest requests from VLEs. We hope to make around 10,000 cinema halls operational in rural areas by the end of 2024," said Punit Desai, MD, October Cinemas. Sanjay Kumar Rakesh, who was speaking at a workshop on "Emerging Opportunities for VLEs through CSCs", said CSC was promoting adoption of electric vehicles across India, particularly in rural areas through its CSC rural e-mobility programme. "Our aim is to improve issues of mobility in villages. Mobility creates opportunities for development and growth, generating jobs and facilitating trade. It also enhances rural India's competitiveness by improving connectivity across local and national areas. Our plan is to scale up our rural e-mobility programme by offering a range of electric vehicles to citizens in rural areas of the country. This will not only provide a clean source of energy, but also boost productivity and employment in rural areas. We are focusing on twin targets, mobility, and renewable energy, both are critical for the rural economy," CSC MD added. /IANS