Will inspect the infrastructure of swimming clubs: KMC

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will inspect the infrastructure of the swimming clubs under its jurisdiction, member, mayor in council (parks), Debashis Kumar said on Wednesday.

A KMC team will visit all the swimming clubs to find out whether they have adequate numbers of trainers, life saving instruments along with the depth of water in the pools.

Meanwhile, the Azad Hind Bagh Mahila Sangha where Sangeeta Das, a 2nd year MSc student died while taking swimming lessons on Tuesday remained closed on Wednesday.

The police officers of Burtala police station went to the spot to inspect the infrastructure. They also talked to the experts to find out the kind of infrastructure the clubs should have and how many trainers are needed per shift to train the novices.

Das who began swimming just a fortnight ago died almost unattended. The authorities came to know only after the aunt of the deceased went to the club and told them that she had not returned home. Then they conducted a search and found her body floating in one corner of the pool where the depth of water was eight feet. 

Generally, the depth of water in the pools where novices are given training vary anything between 4 feet to 4.5 feet. Local people alleged that just to save money expert trainers are not engaged and those who give training have no idea how to combat emergency situation. A senior police officer said all these things were looked into.

Meanwhile, the swimming lessons in two other clubs at Hedua were conducted as usual on Wednesday. The lessons  are given in six sessions which start from 6 am. The duration of each session is 45 minutes.

As per rules, the trainers are supposed to count the novices and they come out of the pool only after all of them have left the pool. There are novices who are afraid of water and there are some who cannot hold breath. The clubs are supposed to take medical report of the students seeking admission.