Lamakaan

Lamakaan (لامکاں)
Founded March 2010
Type Cultural center
Location
Area served
Hyderabad
Slogan Do what you will, with it
Website http://www.lamakaan.com/

Lamakaan (Urdu: لامکاں) is an open cultural center in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, India.[1] The non-profit organisation provides space for events such as arts, literature, theater, music, debates etc.[2]

History

Lamakaan started hosting events in March 2010. It was founded by Ashhar Farhan, Humera Ahmed, Biju Mathew, and Elahe Hiptoola.

The center

Vithal Rao performing at Lamakaan

Lamakaan hosts Pecha Kucha, concerts of local artists like Vittal Rao, Ateeq Hussain Khan, Warsi Brothers among others. It conducts book releases, plays and seminars. It hosts events like Wikipedia Meetups. Theatre groups have performed at Lamakaan including Samahaara, Sutradhar, Nishumbita, Evam, Shudrka and others.[3]

Closure threat

On December 23, 2015, a notice was issued to Lamakaan by the GHMC to shut down in three days, citing "creating nuisance to the surrounding residents and general public" as the reason. After notice, Lamakaan gave a reply to the civic body that was 'not satisfactory', to which the civic body responded by issuing a closure notice on December 23. P. Mahender, the GHMC Deputy Commissioner (Circle 10), when contacted, said that there were traffic problems every Sunday in the lane but did not mention anything about the nuisance. One certain complaint was regarding women smoking in the premises.[4]

The notice was withdrawn soon. Due to an uproar in the number of people protesting against shutting down Lamakaan and the signing of around 3,000 people on the online petitioning site change.org demanding the withdrawal of the notice, the attention of IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao was drawn. The issue was resolved after GHMC Deputy Commissioner P. Mahender spoke with the owner of the place. The notice did not specify what was the cause of the nuisance but instead talked about the place running without a license. It was decided that the parking space of Jalagam Vengalarao Park would be used for four-wheeler parking.[5]

References

  1. "Space that inspires". The Hindu. 2010-05-25. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  2. "Where myth meets reality - Hyderabad". The Hindu. 2010-09-07. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  3. Hyderabad. "Lamakaan, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad | NGOs in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad". Buzzintown. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  4. "Lamakaan faces closure threat". The Hindu. 2015-12-29. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2016-01-09.
  5. "Lamakaan Closure Notice Withdrawn". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2016-01-09.
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