Chandigarh Sports Dept fails to find eligible lifeguards for swimming pools
Deepankar Sharda
Chandigarh, May 15
Out of the total 12 swimming pools in the city, six are being operated by a single official as no candidate cleared the lifeguards’ eligibility criteria, claimed the Sports Department. Sources claimed that a test to recruit as many as six lifeguards was conducted last month at the Mani Majra Sports Complex.
However, no candidate is said to have cleared the criteria. Keeping in mind the huge rush of people, the department has asked the contractor to restart the process of recruiting the lifeguards. “No candidate cleared the eligibility criteria for getting selected as lifeguards. The contractor, who manages outsourced staff, has been asked to restart the process and report it to the department. In case attendants from these six pools have to leave, we adjust duties of other staff,” said Sorabh Kumar Arora, Director Sports.
Out of the total 12 swimming pools, those located at Sectors 43, 56, 50, 39, 34 and 8 are being looked after by one official each, a representative of the Sports Department. Except the Sector 8 pool, all others witness a huge rush of people coming to practice swimming. Notably, due to less number of coaches, all these six pools are being supervised by four seasoned lifeguards and two boatmen.
“The department should have completed the process before opening the pools. The pools are witnessing a huge rush. During these rush hours, supervisors don’t come inside the pool to teach newcomers. They supervise the pool sitting outside,” said Vinita, a user.
Last month, the department had opened Sector 23 nursery pool, Sector 23 all-weather pool, Lake Sports Complex pool, Sector 8, Sector 27, Sector 34, Sector 38, Sector 39, Sector 43, Sector 50, Sector 56 and Mani Majra Sports Complex pools for the general public and swimmers. On an average, a majority of the pools have registration of over 90 members. As many as 11 lifeguards, including one woman, two coaches and five boatmen, have been deputed to operate pools. As per the summer session, these pools remain open for nearly five months, extendable till the start of the winter session.
