Bengaluru elite clubs voluntarily shut over coronavirus scare

Bengaluru: Rising cases of coronavirus have forced over a score elite clubs in this tech city to voluntarily shut shop for the safety of their members, especially the aged, an official said on Friday.

We have voluntarily decided to close our clubs for some weeks to ensure the safety of our members, especially the aged in view of the rising COVID-19 cases in the city of late though its only three weeks since we reopened," Bengaluru Federation of Clubs president H.S. Srikanth told IANS.

All elite clubs like Bangalore Club, Bowring Institute, Century Club, Golf Association Club, Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) Club, Koramangala Club, Indiranagar Club and Indian Gymkhana Club re-opened in the first week of this month when the Karnataka government began unlock 1.0 to revive the economy and restore near normalcy in the city and the state.

"A consensus decision was taken by all the clubs to voluntarily close from this weekend to avoid health risk to our members. Though only one-third of the members have been visiting their club across the city, we don't want any member to be affected by the virus," Srikanth asserted. With 5,000-6,000 members per club, the 30-odd elite clubs have about 1,50,000-1,80,000 members, including their spouses and relatives as guest members. Around one-third of members are senior citizens, including retired IAS, IPS and IFS officers, CXOs of India Inc, corporate honchos, celebrities, noted sports persons, doctors, lawyers and senior bureaucrats.

"The decision to shut the clubs was also taken after a member of the Karnataka Golf Association tested positive when he was in the golf course on June 23 along with 50 other golfers, forcing the organisation to halt play and shut the entire area, including its club," member of another club told IANS.