A letter from the secretary of an over 150-year-old club, with copies marked to each member, is a pointer to the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The letter from Dalhousie Institute’s secretary is addressed to the general secretary of the employees’ union of the club. The immediate context is “delay in payment of salary of May 2020” to its 90-odd employees, permanent and contractual.

The club has been shut since March 23.

The office-bearers said that in the absence of revenue from liquor and food and following a dip in monthly subscriptions because of the lockdown, it was virtually impossible to make payouts like before.

The Ballygunge club, spread over 60 cottahs, has a sprawling lawn, bar, dining room, two lounge areas, a swimming pool, three tennis courts, a multi-sport turf and a badminton court, and rooms for indoor games like table tennis and snooker.

Over 80 per cent of the club’s revenue comes from bar sales, said an official, adding that it was “pointless to reopen the club without an operational bar”.

Members of the council — the decision-making body of the club — said salaries and maintenance were the main expense components. The source of income, apart from food and beverage sales, was monthly subscriptions of the 2,000-odd members.

The club was already reeling under a financial crunch and the Covid-19 crisis brought things to a grinding halt, said an official.

“We were able to pay monthly salaries to the workers because we earned something every month. The shutdown has stopped income. As a result, we are having trouble in giving full salaries,” said Miraj D. Shah, the treasurer.

The letter also speaks of members “themselves facing financial crisis”, aggravating the club's financial crunch.

The problems will find an echo in other legacy clubs of the city as well. In normal circumstances, the tinkling of glasses on a sun-kissed evening on a lush green lawn makes a perfect picture. But a virus that has made socialising an almost dreaded word threatens to change all of it.

The DI letter points out that the admission of “3000 plus new members” would offset the mounting losses. But in the same breadth, it also adds that the existing club infrastructure “can never support” the admission of so many new members.

The letter says the club “incurred a loss of Rs 203.39 lakh for the year ended 31st March 2019”.

“One of the primary reasons for the loss has been high salary costs of the club… The total income of the club from subscription and surplus from food and beverages for the year ended 31st March 2019 was Rs 254.69 lakh and the salary cost for the same period was Rs 352.84 lakh,” says the letter from the honorary secretary, Michael N. Rao.

The other operational costs, like annual maintenance contracts with outsourced agencies and electricity consumption, made up the remaining components of the loss, said Shah.

“The pandemic is nothing but sort of a death knell to our club,” the letter says.

The letter says the council (the decision-making body of the club, elected by its members) “has decided to pay 50 per cent of the salary/wages for the month of May 2020 and the salary/wages for the subsequent months will be solely dependant on the financial ability of the club and the monetary resources”.

A section of the workers, affiliated to the All India Trade Union Congress, has been staging a demonstration outside the Ballygunge club for the past couple of days.

“I have given more than two decades to this place. How will I sustain my family if the club does not stand by me in this moment of crisis?” said one of the demonstrators on Wednesday.

Jayajit Biswas, the president, said the salary slabs of the club were above the industry standard.

The letter buttresses his claim. It says that under existing guidelines, the club “is required to pay a minimum wage of Rs 20,581 per month” compared to the “minimum wage for waiters etc, as prescribed by the labour department of the Government of West Bengal for the period January 2020 is Rs 8,349 per month”.

“The maximum monthly salary drawn by a bearer in our club is Rs 41,549,” said Shah, the treasurer.

Biswas said the club had been a “generous provider” to its employees in the past and expected the workers to “extend some cooperation at this critical juncture”.