More than two years after their premises located in the heart of the city was given for construction of the camp office of Director General of Police, over 700 members of the Vijayawada Officers’ Club (VOC) are still looking for an alternative site.
It was on January 5, 2015, that the government issued an order allotting the residential building of the Superintending engineer of Vijayawada Irrigation Circle along with the adjoining space where the VOC was located, on a temporary basis for the establishment of DGP office but it has so far not finalised a site where the historic club can organise its recreational and sporting activities.
Founded way back in 1941 and built in 1955-56, the VOC had existed at the crossroads of Gopal Reddy Road and Ramachandra Rao Road at Governorpet. A member of the VOC told The Hindu that the club was the only place for recreation of Central and State government officers and their families in Amaravati, and the Collector and the Vijayawada Sub-Collector are its ex-officio president and ex-officio secretary respectively. “The above G.O was issued on the basis of an ‘assumption’ that it ceased functioning in March 1991. In fact, it has been functioning without any interruption since 1941 and it was even preparing to celebrate its platinum jubilee, when the club was handed over to the Police Department,” the VOC member, who is a senior officer in the Energy Department, said, adding that the matter was taken to the Chief Minister’s notice but the issue is not yet sorted out.
They are hoping that the Chief Minister will consider the long-pending decision.
