No swimming pool in City Beautiful winter-ready yet
Deepankar Sharda
Chandigarh, October 27
As many as 12 swimming pools and none is available for the winter session, starting from November – this is the irony of the city, which claims to have a vast infrastructure in the entire region.
Out of these 12 pools, majority are indoor facilities and were built in recent years. However, the UT Administration did not pay any attention to construct all-weather swimming pools in city and built all pools on similar pattern. Also, instead of constructing an Olympic size 50-metre swimming pool, the administration has stuck to pools having 25 metre length.
The only all-weather swimming pool in the city at Sector 23 was closed this April for carrying repair works. Even after six months, it’s still under construction. As the summer session ended, all city pools were ordered to be closed. And in the absence of a swimming pool for winters all the staff will be deployed in the UT Sports Department.
“The repair work will take another one month to complete. We have yet to stop the leakage of water from the pool. The filter plant room, reception and washrooms are still to be painted,” said a labourer working at the Sector 23 all-weather swimming pool.
As per the annual calendar of the department, the all-weather pool remains open from November till March for the winter session.
Besides all-weather facility, the pools located at Sector 8, Sector 27, Sector 34, Sector 38 (West), Sector 39, Sector 43, Sector 50, Sector 56, and Mani Majra are indoors, while the ones at Sector 23 and Lake Sports Complex are open pools.
A setback for swimmers
No pool is a setback for not only swimmers, but also for the Sports Department. One of most important facility in terms of revenue generation, the Sector 23 pool has been neglected on several occasions.
“The pool is unlikely to open before December. Despite having 12 swimming pools, not even a single is all-weather facility. The administration should accept its fault and mark an inquiry on why all pools in the city are being built on a similar pattern,” said Arpita, a veteran swimmer.
