PUNE: The civic administration on Wednesday shut seven swimming pools run by the
Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and marked unsafe by the
Rashtriya Life Saving Society-India.
This comes a day after the Rashtriya Life Saving Society-India (RLSSI) safety audit report of the 31 PMC swimming pools revealed that seven of them are not safe. The audit had found only four pools safe, while the safety level of nine facilities was average.
Besides, 10 PMC pools are already shut and the auditors were not allowed to enter one. RLSSI is the honorary consultant of the civic body and its swimming pool audit report was submitted to the general body on Tuesday.
The pools that have been closed are Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar sports complex (Sahakarnagar), Yashkala swimming pool (Shaniwar Peth) Late Piraji Koyaji swimming pool (Hadapsar), Korve swimming pool (Ghorpadi), Keshawraj Vithoba Dhere swimming pool (Yerawada), Nanasaheb Parulekar swimming pool (Vishrantwadi) and APJ Abdul Kalam swimming pool (Katraj).
“The decision to close down the pools was taken keeping in mind the larger public interest. We have instructed the swimming pool operators to rectify the flaws. These pools will be reopened once the compliance of safety norms is ensured,” said
Anil Muley, head of the PMC’s land and estate department.
Among the parameters of the audit were the presence of trained lifeguards and oxygen equipment, quality of water used and availability of emergency system at the pools. The auditors had also checked the quality and quantity of chemicals used in the pools.
The elected representatives had raised the safety of the swimming pools at the general body meeting on Monday following the death of a 19-year old youth in a pool near
Taljai hill earlier this month.
Mayor
Mukta Tilak instructed the civic administration to inspect all municipal corporation-run swimming pools at least twice a year. The corporators claimed that the contractors appointed at the swimming pools were not managing the facilities effectively and there were major security lapses.
