SHAKEELA ANDRABI
SRINAGAR: Established on the banks of picturesque Nigeen Lake, the very ambience of Nigeen Club is enormously attractive. As an icing on the cake, recently upgraded infrastructure and State-of-the-art facilities provide ample amusement and entertainment to visitors, not only from valley but outsiders too. According to details provided by tourism department on their website, the club has enormous modern facilities like Conference Hall equipped with the latest sound system and can accommodate 150 persons. The Club restaurant offers wide variety of delicacies ranging from Kashmiri cuisine to Chinese. The health club has also got latest equipment and trainers have been appointed to help those availing the facilities within club. Moreover, the club has Sauna & Steam bath services which are beneficial for patients suffering from arthritis and other disorders. The club has also a billiard and snookers room where the players can enjoy the game. The club library houses variety of books on tourism, travelogues, culture and trekking. On the other hand, employees working in Tourism Department’s Nigeen Club are alleged that the club is losing sheen due to official apathy. The employees claimed that Club has failed to retrieve over Rs 38 lakh from members including several old ones. Sources said that despite ample revenue, employees are being denied service benefits. “Official apathy has created a number of issues related to salary benefits. Majority of service benefits of the employees are pending as authorities are sitting over the same like TA, CP fund and other arrears, which are pending for years. Despite tireless work of employees, the officials are not paying heed to our requests. The employees have not received CP funds since October 2019,” they alleged.
A recent RTI revealed that Club has failed to retrieve over Rs 38 lakh from its members. “I had also filed a RTI to know about some details on functions held in the club which is one of the main sources of revenue generation, but unfortunately, some of such questions were not answered by officials saying that personal information cannot be shared,” said a RTI activist. As per the official record, the club has over 200 members, but presently only a few are visiting due to these issues. Even permanent staff at the club has been transferred and sent to other places. The club is a good revenue generator through marriage functions etc but stil, employees are claiming that they don’t get service benefits. The members and employees said that an audit should be carried out to check functioning of the club. Meanwhile, in reply to a RTI, it was also revealed that no audit has been carried out in club during last 10 years.