'Members created a ruckus over travelling to new fitness centre'

The troubled members of Kandivli's Pride fitness studio, which shut down last week, said that the centre where owner Vineet Shah made alternate arrangements for them denied to have struck such a deal with him. But Shah has a different story to tell altogether. He said that the members went to the alternate fitness centre and created a ruckus over the fact that it was at a distance from their locality. They even went to the extent of scaring the management by involving an activist and cops in the matter, he added. However, Shah said that he was trying to accommodate all his members in similar fitness centres in the locality.

mid-day on Friday reported how Pride's owner shut down the centre without informing its members, most of whom had paid an entire year's fee. They had even approached a local Shiv Sena activist and police with their complaints. Speaking to mid-day, Shah said, "I had delivered on my promise of making alternate arrangements. A different fitness centre had been finalised for the purpose. But the members created a ruckus there, which scared the management. But I still stand true to my commitment and continue to look for alternative arrangements." Shah further said that the members were informed a week in advance that the centre would be shut down.

He continued, "I had offered to shift them to a much better fitness centre but they are not ready to travel even a bit. Now I will look for centres in Mahavir Nagar itself. But I might not be able to accommodate all of them in a single centre." Speaking about why he shut down his centre, Shah said, "It was due to shortage of funds. I was not being able to pay salaries to my trainers. There were other problems related to infrastructure. If I had to abscond, then I wouldn't have taken the responsibility of making alternate arrangements."

Meanwhile, member Saroj Chitroda said, "If we are given an option in the same locality why wouldn't we go? We had approached the alternate fitness centre but they told us that no such agreement existed." Another member, Satish Sharma, said, "If there was fund crunch, the owner shouldn't have taken in new members at lucrative offers. More so, the studio should not have been shut down without alternative arrangements."

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