Mumbai: BMC to open two new public swimming pools at Dahisar and Malad soon

Two more swimming pools one each in Dahisar and Malad are ready and could be opened to the public in January Civic officials said the work on other pools is underway and three of them are likely to be built by May Each of these pools has a capacity of over 1600 members a yearThe civic body has initiated the process of inviting tenders for the maintenance and security of Dahisar and Malad pools Officials said work on other pools is underway and two of them will be ready by May The BMC will also take over two swimming pools one of the state government and another of the Fire BrigadeThe pool at Chacha Nehru Garden in Malad WestThe BMC had undertaken work to build six new swimming poolsmdashat Worli Hill Reservoir Chacha Nehru Garden in Malad West Indira Gandhi Entertainment Park in Andheri West Kondivita in Andheri East Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj Kridangan Tagore Nagar Vikhroli East Gyandhara Garden in Dahisarmdashowing to the growing demand for membershipAlso read Mumbai Exams on Monday but students yet to receive hall ticketsAndheri Worli pools by MayldquoTwo other swimming pools in Worli and Andheri East will be ready before summer vacation and we will also open the swimming pool at Mumbai Fire Brigade Wadala for the public The repair work is going on and it will be handed over to the BMC by April We have also initiated the process to take over a swimming pool at Kamgar Krida Bhavan in Parel which is under the state government Availability of these two pools will ease the load of Dadar swimming poolsrdquo said Kishor Gandhi deputy municipal commissioner of the BMCThe remaining two pools in Andheri West and Vikhroli may not open before monsoon BMCrsquos swimming pools are always in demand as it offers services at affordable ratesDadar has three swimming pools including one for children but their membership was full on day one of online registration500 vacancies in KandivliAt present around 500 memberships are open at the Kandivli pool 85 in Dahisar pool whereas Chembur pool is fully bookedAlthough the project to increase the number of swimming pools in the city started years ago it was only recently that the work picked up pace The new pools expected to open in January are at Chacha Nehru Garden in Malad West and Gyandhara Garden in Dahisar The BMC spent Rs 17 crore to build the two poolsldquoThe pools are of normal size each measuring 25x15 metres and with a capacity of 1632 members a year The membership registration will start after pools are openedrdquo said an official The work on swimming pools in Andheri Vikhroli and Worli will be completed by May officials saidThe BMC has swimming pools at Shivaji Park Kandivli Dahisar Chembur and Ghatkopar However the pool in Ghatkopar was closed in 2016 after a leakage issue It will be reconstructed and opened in two or three years officials said Shivaji Park Kandivli and Chembur have Olympicsized swimming poolsAs per the BMCrsquos existing fee structure the ShivajiPark Chembur and Kandivli swimming pools have an annual fee of Rs 10100 while others have a fee of Rs 8000 for a year The civic body this year introduced online registration for transparencyIt also increased the class time to 1 hour from 45 minutes a day earlier for each person As both the entry and exit of a pool are logged online if a person exceeds their daily limit the additional time will be adjusted against their annual allotted hoursRs 8000Annual membership cost at these swimming pools1632No of memberships each to open for Dahisar and Malad