A high level meeting of the sports department will be convened next week to discuss a policy on the rental rates to be charged for these ‘non-sporting’ activities. “At least 90 days a year we should be able to give out the venue for such events to recover our maintenance costs,” Deshmukh said.

According to sources, the serial shoot earned the department Rs 2 lakh, while a bill for Rs 12 lakh has been forwarded to the state government for the Nirmal Gram Puraskar that will see the President attend the function. The private firm will have to pay Rs 5 lakh for hosting the health workshop.

“If we were to charge Rs 40,000 for a badminton event we would charge Rs 1,60,000 for a non-sport event. Once the meeting to decide the parametres of renals for non-sporting event gets over, we will be giving out the Balewadi complex for more such events,” said a sports department official.

Gaurav Natekar, former national tennis player and committee member of CYG said, “It all depends on which areas of the sports venue are being used. There are recreation halls and conference halls as well as stadiums at Balewadi. Even in US and Europe, stadiums are given out for rock shows. As long as the money is ploughed back into sports activities, and the venues are not affected, it is better left to the discretion of the sports department.”