The Hindu : New Delhi News : Good news: The coffee will still brew

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Wednesday, Jun 10, 2009
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New Delhi

Good news: The coffee will still brew

Urvashi Sarkar

Photo: V. Sudershan

The show goes on: An employee serving coffee at the Indian Coffee House at Mohan Singh Place in the Capital on Tuesday. Members of Coffee Consumers Forum with support from several political parties and intellectuals are trying to prevent its closure.

NEW DELHI: They take their coffee seriously. Of even greater concern to members of the Coffee Consumers’ Forum right now is possible closure of the good old Indian Coffee House at Mohan Singh Place, a landmark of sorts in the heart of the Capital.

“We proudly declare that the Coffee House will not close on June 10 as announced earlier,” declared Ram Shastri, convenor of the Coffee Consumers’ Forum, on Tuesday. He thanked Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for her efforts in this regard.

“The Coffee House is a cultural hub and not a commercial venture,” said G.V.G. Krishnamurthy, former Chief Election Commissioner and one of the founders of the Coffee House.

He elucidated the significance of the Coffee House as a place where intellectuals, freedom fighters, lawyers, journalists and politicians among others gather to discuss problems afflicting the country and brainstorm possible solutions for them.

For its part, Indian Coffee Workers’ Cooperative Society, the management of the Coffee House, is citing mounting losses as the main reason for proposing to shut down the place. However, the Coffee Consumers’ Forum has alleged malpractices by the management and wants handling of the day-to-day affairs to be transferred to the State Government.

“The Indian Coffee Workers’ Cooperative Society is responsible for shutting down coffee houses in other parts of the city too. Money amounting to crores gathered from the sale of property of these coffee houses has not been accounted for. Therefore, the Government should now run the place,” said Mr. Shastri.

‘Rent-free’

Mr. Krishnamurthy added: “The way the Government maintains schools, hospitals and roads, similarly it should also maintain coffee houses across the country. They should be operated rent-free and on a non-profit basis.”

Indian Coffee Workers’ Cooperative Society manager Pratap Singh dismissed the charges of corruption levelled against the management, terming them “baseless”.

Society secretary C. S. Baiju admitted that the Coffee House was suffering immense losses. “The Government would not be able to run the Coffee House successfully. Look at the condition of government-run coffee houses across the city,” he said, adding that they were in a bad shape.

The Society secretary said repeated requests to the NDMC to reduce the rent were turned down.

Mr. Baiju explained that due to dwindling business the Society failed to clear its monthly rent resulting in accumulation of Rs.22 lakh in unpaid dues. “With interest, the total unpaid amount is about Rs.48 lakh now,” he said, referring to the amount which is to be paid to the NDMC.

Caught in the middle are long-time customers of the Coffee House. Akhil Gulati, a Coffee House regular for the past 40 years, said, “The place is in a bad shape and needs to be revamped. The chairs are uncomfortable, there is little choice in terms of food and installation of coolers would be welcome in the scorching heat.”

This past May the NDMC issued a notice to the Coffee House asking it to clear the dues and also told the management to vacate the premises within 15 days.

However, intervention by the media, eminent persons and politicians made the NDMC postpone closure of the Coffee House.

Mr. Baiju said: “The fate of the Coffee House will be decided on July 20 when the case comes up for hearing in a Patiala House court.”

For now, the Coffee House remains open.

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