7 months gone, all-weather pool plan stuck in red tape

GURUGRAM: The proposal to build an all-weather swimming pool in the city seems to have been made no headway since it was announced in July last year. In the absence of the facility in Gurugram, swimmers and triathletes have complained that they often have to travel to Delhi for their training, particularly in winters, when the existing public pools shut down as they are not heated.
Last year, the district administration had proposed that the government-run pool at Kamala Nehru Park be upgraded to an Olympic-level, all-weather swimming pool. This would allow swimmers to practise year-round. In early July 2018, Gurugram deputy commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh had conducted a meeting with the district sports council on swimming facilities in the city. He had approved the proposal to upgrade the Kamla Nehru Park pool and asked the sports department to design it. At the same time, it was decided that the MCG would build a small pool for practice adjacent to the main swimming pool.

Singh said, “I’ve reviewed the design of the proposed swimming pool. It will be an all-weather pool to ensure that players can practice in both winter and summer seasons.”

There are over 150 swimming pools in the city, out of which only one located in Kamla Nehru Park is government-run. It stays closed from October to March. Park officials said around 20-25 people come to the pool on a regular basis. It is open twice a day from 5am to 9am and 4pm to 7pm during April-September. Using the facility is free of cost for state-level players, while others have to pay Rs 1,200-1,500 per month.

At present, the pool at the park is 25m long and 12m wide. In contrast, an Olympic-sized pool is 50m long and 25m wide. Ideally, it also has water with temperature regulated to a range between 25°C and 28°C.

Officials from the district administration said MCG is likely to provide land for widening the pool.

The sports department prepared a proposal for the heated pool and forwarded it to the state public works department (PWD) in late 2018. Since then, the matter has been stuck. “We are working to ensure that the new pool is made at the earliest. We have placed the proposal in front of the PWD and they have to take it further,” district swimming coach Ravinder Kumar told TOI. “Even if the approvals come, it will at least take 10 months for the new pool to be made,” he added.

Until the pool is built, swimmers will have to train in other places. “Having a heated pool in Gurugram is vital. Most swimmers go outside the city for practice. I train at the Talkatora stadium in Delhi as the pool at Kamla Nehru Park isn’t temperature-regulated,” said Shivani Kataria, a city-based swimmer who has participated in the Olympics.