Pools a hit in summer, but upkeep dries up post lockdown

Mumbai As the city returns to normalcy, after two years of lockdown, citizens who were expecting that swimming pools would be reopened are complaining that most of the pools maintained by the civic body are in disarray.

At present, there are five civic swimming pools in Mumbai - at Dadar, Ghatkopar, Chembur, Kandivli and Dahisar, which are owned and maintained by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Of these, the one at Ghatkopar has been shut for more than three years as it is currently under renovation. Apart from these five, there are also two Olympic-sized swimming pools - at Andheri Sports Complex and Priyadarshini Sports Complex in Mulund.

While civic officials claim that the maintenance of these pools are at par with international standards, citizens feel that post pandemic, the upkeep of these pools leave a lot to be desired. Many of the pools have stopped rolling out forms for fresh memberships as well.

The cheaper fees, when compared to private pools, draw people to take membership for these civic pools. The annual membership fees in an Olympic-sized civic pool costs around ₹9,600 which increases every year by 10 per cent. The fees for the regular pools is around ₹6,600. Olympic-sized pools are 50 meters long, 25 meters wide and at least two meters deep.

Swimmerspeak

Naresh Mehta (77) has been a swimmer for more than five decades and is now a coach. Earlier, he used to visit the Ghatkopar pool and, after it went for redevelopment, Mehta has been going to the pool in Chembur for over three years now. “While swimming pools in Mumbai have been made as per international standards, maintenance has been an issue. Most of the showers and sprinklers don’t work properly and many of the toilets are also dysfunctional. Things have also deteriorated post lockdown,” said Mehta.

Sandeep Dhonde, a Ghatkopar resident whose son goes to the pool in Chembur, said, “Just like there is a lack of open spaces in the city, there is also not an adequate number of pools in Mumbai compared to its population. After the pool in Ghatkopar was shut down, the crowd moved to Chembur. Now, the existing infrastructure is overwhelmed.”

Mihir Kotecha, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Mulund said that the same filtration plants that were set up in the swimming pools inside the Priyadarshini Sports Complex are still in operation for over 33 years now.

“The lifespan of a filtration plant is not more than 20 years. We have urged the BMC several times to replace the existing plants with new ones. However, the administration says it needs to be done by a private trust that manages the complex,” Kotecha said.

There has also been a rush to get memberships at civic pools after pools were reopened post lockdown. Smita Joshi, a Borivali resident, said that she could not get membership for her son at pools in Kandivali or Dadar and finally had no option but to opt for a private pool.

Officialspeak

Prabhat Rahangdale, who was deputy municipal commissioner and in-charge of the pools in Mumbai till his recent retirement, said, “Regular audits are being carried out in all the swimming pools of Mumbai to keep a track on the quality of the infrastructure and also to check the pH level of the water. The water quality and infrastructure are being maintained as per international standards and if we notice any issue then it is solved immediately.”

Rahangdale also said that in Olympic-sized pools, a maximum of 550 memberships are allowed per pool annually, and in regular-sized pools not more than 144 memberships are allowed. Rahangdale said that this year there has been an increased demand for memberships. “Even though all the membership forms get filled out, only 30-40 percent of the members turn up actually every year. We have closed enrollment of new members wherever maximum numbers have been reached because going beyond the capacity can lead to a security breach any day.” He added that swimming pools usually remain crowded from end of February to middle of June until the monsoon arrives.

A civic official requesting anonymity said, “After the pandemic broke out, the budget for maintenance of pools were cut and rightly so, as nobody was using the pools during that time. This has affected the maintenance structure to an extent and things will get back to normal soon.”

New pools ahead

In order to meet the rising demand of swimming pools, the BMC is set to open six new Olympic-sized pools in the next two years. Ramakant Biradar, senior municipal official, in charge of the Garden Infrastructure Cell (GIC), which is responsible for construction of pools, said that by the end of 2022, three new pools will be opened for the public at Malad, Andheri (west) and Dahisar. Next year, another two pools will be opened in Worli and Vikhroli and one more pool at Marol is set to be be opened by January 2024. “These dates are however tentative because during construction if we find out that the soil condition is very rocky then there could be a change in the overall design, which may also result in delays,” said Biradar.