Interested parties can soon book SK Memorial Hall and Gandhi Maidan at the click of a mouse instead of a trip to the divisional commissioner's office in the city.

The divisional commissioner's office has decided to make the booking facility online, making it easier for people around the state to complete the procedures without a visit to Patna. The online process would become operational from Septem-ber 15.

Now, anybody wishing to book the hall or the Maidan for commercial, government, religious or political purposes have to visit the Patna divisional commissioner's office to find out the availability, rates and other details necessary for booking and then complete the formalities.

Once the online portal takes off, a person would need to visit the website - under construction right now - for the details and then book it according to his/her preference through online banking or cards.

Divisional commissioner Anand Kishor on Friday said: "To develop this new software for online booking, we have authorised Patna-based company Software Education & Research Pvt. Ltd. to work on it. By September 15, the online booking facility would start for SK Memorial Hall and Gandhi Maidan. We also have a tie-up with a government bank for the gateway payment."

The divisional commissioner is the head of the development committees responsible to look after the maintenance, beautification and security of Gandhi Maidan and SK Memorial Hall.

The two premises are the most sought-after venues in the city when it comes to hosting large-scale events. While the Maidan is spread over 62 acres, the centrally air-conditioned SK Memorial Hall can accommodate 2,000 people. However, both the venues would not be given out for weddings.

Apart from government events, commercial use of SK Memorial Hall is allowed for musical shows and school and college events such as annual day functions, convocations or inductions.

Apart from political rallies and Ravan Vadh or satsangs (religious use), parties can book the Gandhi Maidan for musical events and fairs (commercial use) and book fairs, handloom fairs and others (non-commercial).

Once the online process starts, the manual booking procedure would be done away with. Details of the online facility would be circulated among the people in the coming few days.

On the difference between online and manual booking, Kishor said: "The party has to pay Rs 1,000 at the time of the application, half of which would be adjusted with the final payment. The remaining Rs 500 is non-refundable to keep out mischief mongers from blocking a certain date and then not turning up."