E-Paper
After 45 years, city’s sole public swimming pool to get a ₹2 crore makeover
Gurugram: Nearly 45 years after its construction, the city’s only public swimming pool at Kamla Nehru Park is set to be renovated by the Municipal Corporation of
Gurugram: Nearly 45 years after its construction, the city’s only public swimming pool at Kamla Nehru Park is set to be renovated by the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG). On Monday, the civic body floated a tender in this regard.
The swimming pool ensconced in Sadar Bazar has been lying in a dilapidated condition for the past decade. Since 2015, multiple proposals had been conceptualised by officials but failed to materialise.
As per the ‘detailed notice inviting tender’ for the project, a copy of which is with HT, the estimated project cost is ₹1.96 crore, and will take five months to complete from the date construction commences.
“We are working towards making the swimming pool a top-notch facility, one which can be availed by all. Tenders have been floated in this regard, and we are aiming to complete the renovation work by the end of 2020,” said Amit Kumar Sandilya, executive engineer, MCG.
The highlights of the makeover include the addition of ceramic, mosaic, polycrete, skirting tiles and wooden floorings which will all be anti-skid and water resistant. In addition, the pool will also have float glass panels which will ensure the pool water does not splash to the surface.
Constructed in 1975, due to lack of maintenance, the 25-metre long and 12 metre-wide pool has many ailments.
The base of the pool is filled with leaves and dirt while the changing rooms and the benches next to the pool are also broken. Both the interior and the exterior walls of the pool are wearing off and taps are missing inside the bathrooms.
In its 2019-2020 budget, the MCG had reserved ₹70 crore funds for sports and health facilities, against ₹10 crore last fiscal. A large sum of which had been reserved for upgrading the swimming pool.
Initially, on the directions of the then deputy commissioner and the current MCG commissioner, Vinay Pratap Singh, issued in February 2018, the MCG had to double the size of the pool and conform it to Olympic sized pool dimensions — 50 metres long and 25 metres wide. The pool was also supposed to be an all-weather pool where the temperature of water would be adjusted between 25-28 degrees Celsius and could be used throughout the year. In addition, to the Olympic-size pool, a separate small pool, was also proposed for practising purposes.
MCG officials said that due to lack of land in a severely congested market area, they couldn’t proceed with these proposals, and instead opted for upgrading and renovating the existing pool.
