Jul 14, (Mid-day): The dead housefly was allegedly found by a club member’s daughter in the spinach soup served in one of the restaurants in the club; when the president of the club, whose membership costs Rs 35-50 lakh, was informed, he allegedly shrugged off responsibility

Members of the National Sports Complex of India, Worli, who were being reduced to tears last year because one of the club’s restaurants was not serving complimentary slices of onions with chhole bhature, are now flying off the handle because a dead housefly was served up for free, this time with a bowl of spinach soup.

Membership of the club, costs between Rs 35 lakh and Rs 50 lakh and when a member brought the matter to the notice of the club’s president, he allegedly asked, “What can I do about this?”

Beginnings

On Saturday evening, a member’s daughter was having spinach soup at one of the restaurants in the club when she found a dead fly in it. While she began vomiting, another member approached the president of the club, who allegedly shrugged off responsibility.

While the president claims he has already reprimanded the staff and asked them to be careful in the future, club members are slugging it out over the issue on social media.

A Facebook post by one of the members, who does not wish to be named, read: “Dear members, one more incident of sheer callousness & utter unhygienic conditions prevailing in the club’s kitchen under the stewardship of our most ‘competent’ convenor, along with utter disregard on the part of the President of our club.

Last night, around 10 pm, I was called upon by a member to look into an incident relating to the food served at Round The Corner (RTC). You will be shocked to know that his daughter was disgusted to find a dead fly in the soup which she had half consumed.

She was so nauseated that she started vomiting.” “I immediately called upon the catering supervisor since none of the catering bigwigs were around, as usual. The supervisor admitted to catering staff negligence and promised to nullify the aggrieved member’s bill.

I later happened to meet the President Jayantilal Shah in the bar and since no other Committee member was around, I immediately briefed him about the incident. ‘What can I do about this? Why are you telling me all this?’ was his retort,” the post added.

Been there

This is not the first time that the club is facing an issue related to its service. mid-day had reported in November last year how members were disgruntled that they were not being served onions with chhole bhature at the New Delhi chapter of the club (‘Mumbai sports club members cry over extra charge for onion’, November 26, 2014).

When mid-day contacted the member whose daughter had allegedly been served the soup with the housefly in it, he said, “The complaint from my side has been made to the management and this is an issue related to hygiene, which becomes an even more important factor during the monsoons. I do not wish to say anything more.”

Viren Shah, a member of the club who is aware of the issue, said, “A complaint in this regard has been registered with the management. This is an internal matter of the club and we will sort it out internally.”