Ranchi, Sept. 10: Former chief minister Arjun Munda and senior BJP member, who during his tenure had promised to set up a film city in Jharkhand but failed, today shot a strongly worded letter to chief minister Raghubar Das, criticising the Jharkhand Film Shooting Regulation-2015 passed by the state cabinet on September 1.

Calling the regulation, which makes it mandatory for film producers to pay Rs 50 lakh for the first seven days of shooting and subsequently Rs 10 lakh per day, "utterly misplaced", he requested Das to revisit the policy to boost the state's prospects as a preferred destination for filmmakers.

The three-time former chief minister also questioned the capabilities of policy makers (read babus) who the drafted the rule.

"The state has many rivulets, natural forests, landscapes, religious places etc. that can easily attract Bollywood filmmakers to shoot here, which can generate revenue. But without taking into account practical challenges, the objective will be hard to achieve if one goes with the finer points of financial aspect of the regulation that has been passed," it said.

It further went on to add: "How will low budget filmmakers in this tribal land afford such high rates? Is the policy only for big filmmakers and at the cost of tribal and regional makers? I wonder who drafted such rules and regulation without having any knowledge. Don't they know that many small filmmakers have a maximum of Rs 5-10 lakh budget for their films?"

Later speaking to The Telegraph, Munda said the state should offer incentives to attract filmmakers.

"There shouldn't be any charge at the moment. Do we have any infrastructure to offer them? Or any other facility? The government should rather charge only the bare minimum fee in lieu of giving filmmakers security while shooting," he said.

"Had there been any film city or any institution for shooting here, I would have understood that fees are being taken to sustain the facilities. We have nothing of that sort. Suppose if stars like Akshay Kumar come to Deoghar or Amir Khan arrives here, they will automatically draw tourists," he added.

So what does he have to say about policy makers who drafted the current regulation?

"I shouldn't be commenting much. But I believe they don't read much," he remarked.

Several filmmakers agreed with Munda.

Niranjan Kujur, whose short film Edpa Kana (Going Home) won the special jury award this year at the 8th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala 2015 and recently got selected for the Beijing International festival said, "I still don't believe that such a regulation has come into force. I still doubt it. Our budgets are limited to a maximum of Rs 10-12 lakh, so we can never afford to shoot in Jharkhand then."