Mumbai: Dahisar, Malad civic pools to be opened in April

The pool at Chacha Nehru Garden in Malad West

Two civic swimming pools, at Chacha Nehru Garden in Malad West and Gyandhara Garden in Dahisar West, each with the capacity to accommodate 2,000, will finally be opened to the public from April 1. They were supposed to be inaugurated in February, but power and water connection work was delayed. The BMC has already started accepting members. Another pool, in Wadala, which was run by the fire brigade, may be opened in May, civic officials said.

There are currently only four BMC-run pools that are open to the public. The project to increase the number of pools across the city started around five years ago. The BMC spent Rs 17 crore to build the two new pools. "We have started online membership for both the pools and are seeing a good response. We will also reserve a few seats for those who want to shift their membership from the nearby Kandivli or Dahisar East pools," said Kishor Gandhi, deputy municipal commissioner. These pools are regular-sized, each measuring 25x15 metres and have the capacity to accommodate 1,632 people in a day. But as per the membership-to-user ratio, around 2,000 people may get a membership at each pool. Around 100 annual memberships at Dahisar and 300 memberships at Malad were booked on the first day.

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Meanwhile, the BMC has taken over a fire brigade swimming pool at Wadala. "We were trying to repair and open it alongside these two pools. But there are some technical issues. We will definitely open it by May 1. It will ease the load on Shivaji Park pools and Wadala residents can shift their memberships to the new pool," said Gandhi. The BMC had also initiated the process to take over a pool at Kamgar Krida Bhavan in Parel, which is run by the state government. But the state government is now going to repair it, so it will not be considered a civic pool. The BMC has swimming pools at Shivaji Park, Kandivli, Chembur and Dahisar. The first three are Olympic-sized.

Apart from Chacha Nehru Garden and Gyandhara Garden, the BMC had undertaken work to build new pools at Worli Hill Reservoir, Indira Gandhi Entertainment Park in Andheri West, Kondivita in Andheri East, and Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj Kridangan, Tagore Nagar in Vikhroli East, owing to increasing demand. The work on swimming pools in Andheri, Vikhroli and Worli may be completed after the coming monsoon, officials said. The pool in Ghatkopar was closed in 2016 after a leakage issue. It will be reconstructed and opened in three years.

Fee structure

The Shivaji Park, Chembur and Kandivli swimming pools have an annual fee of Rs 10,100, while others charge R8,000 for a year. From April 2023, the fee will be increased by five per cent. For more information and registration citizens can visit the website https.//swimmingpool.themcgm.gov.in.

Discount for women

Two slots will be reserved for women, from 11 am to 12 pm and 5 pm to 6 pm. The BMC recently announced a 25 per cent discount for women in its six functional pools.

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No of civic pools open to public now