As many as 150 regular and contractual employees of the Nicco Park here, which was hand over to the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) in 2007, have expressed concern over the closure notice of the park, which is presently called as ‘BDA City Centre’.
The employees said that the present management is collecting lakhs of rupees through marriage functions, events, advertisements rents and other sources through the park which is the only theme-based amusement park in the State. But unfortunately, the management is expressing its unwillingness to run it, they added.
An employee, SK Mustak Ali, said that after Cyclone Fani, the entire park was damaged and they took much pain and worked hard without any financial support to make the park functional. But the management is not allowing to open the park and thousands of visitors are deprived of enjoying the facilities of the park, he added.
Ali alleged that even if they have met the higher authorities requesting them for opening of the park, the management is threatening to retrench all the employees.
The employees also said, “We have not yet received our salaries for months and facing a lot of difficulties to pay house rents and children’s school fees and maintain daily expenditure.” They demanded that the Government save the employees and their families from starvation. It might be mentioned that the park management has informed the BDA for full and final settlement as they are not interested to continue their activities and to run the park.