FCC of South Asia yearns for a new Managing Committee
Club has been headless after the present incumbent injured his neck in a drunken state
New Delhi: The Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC) of South Asia, situated here right opposite to the Supreme Court of India, is clamouring to have a new president, even as the present incumbent Munish Gupta has been indisposed after sustaining grievous injuries in his neck there months ago, following which he had to undergo several surgeries.
Elections are due at the Club in the last week of March, i.e. two months from now.
After three months of sustaining the injuries (as he fell in the staircase at his home), Gupta visited the Club for the first time on Friday (Jan. 27) to attend a Farewell Party of a German lady journalist. He was seen wearing a neck-support and accompanied by a medical attendant.
Gupta spent nearly three hours at the Club. Due to his prevailing health/medical condition, he couldn’t consume anything throughout the Farewell Party…!
According to one of his personal aides, Gupta had fallen in the staircase of his home while climbing up to the second floor in a drunken state after consuming too many alcoholic drinks at the FCC of South Asia on that fateful evening. Since then he had been admitted at a government hospital, undergoing several surgeries to treat the injuries in his back and neck.
In his absence, the Club has been, more or less, headless for over three months. Sources at the Club told www.thedelhicrown.com that Gupta has been advised complete bed rest by the doctors.
“Compromising the privacy of the Club’s members, Gupta has access to the CCTVs installed inside the Club and watches them throughout the day while lying on the bed at his home. This violates one’s Right to Privacy guaranteed under the Indian Constitution. This practice by Munish Gupta must be stopped immediately. The CCTVs recordings must be saved inside the device kept at the Club, and must be accessed, or used, only in case of an emergency. No one should have a regular/permanent remote-access to the CCTVs recordings,” said a senior member of the Club.
A former Treasurer, who works with a German media group, said that elections are approaching and it’s expected that there would be a change in the Managing Committee after March, 2023.
“Ever since Munish Gupta held the reins, our Club has only attracted Bad Press on different occasions. He is also seen as a non-journalist. He runs a YouTube channel which is not registered with any government body, and hardly has any subscribers or income(s) therefrom. He must be replaced by someone more competent, a full-time journalist of long standing and high reputation,” added the former Treasurer of the Club on the condition of anonymity.
According to him, the FCC of South Asia had never been in news for wrong reasons as it has been during Munish Gupta’s term in the past two years. “He has only brought disgrace to the Club,” he added.