HYDERABAD: Think twice before you take a dip at the many private swimming pools in the city. After the recent drowning of two teenagers who were learning to swim, a visit to private pools shows that these facilities can be life-threatening, as safety is often ignored.In both incidents of the teenagers’ deaths, no lifeguards were present, a preliminary investigation by the police has found. And with people flocking to pools these days, managements are even hiring lifeguards who don’t have the proper qualification.
“It is mandatory for lifeguards to be certified, but most aren’t. The several lifeguards who are employed are paid poorly, and are our former students,” said GHMC coach Harjinder Singh.
Safety and rescue equipment, like tubes, are rarely found at these pools, and though they require authorisation of the GHMC, several of them are not licensed. “There are no guidelines in the GHMC on how to maintain a swimming pool. The GHMC has no active record of the number of pools mushrooming in the city,” said a GHMC sports official.
As per rough unofficial estimates, there are at least 100-150 pools, most of them in the Old City region. “At least 35 swimming pools are functioning in the Old City region without proper licences,” the official added.
“What happens in the many private swimming pools is that they get help from GHMC coaches like us to design the pools with appropriate dimensions, and open it up to the public. Most of them are built on private land, so they don’t come under scrutiny,” a GHMC coach said, requesting anonymity.
Even the closure of seven GHMC swimming pools across the city is pushing people to take to the unsafe private swimming pools. Meanwhile, GHMC officials said the shut pools would be reopened by the first week of April.
Two teens drown, one in pool, other in lake
Two teenagers drowned in separate incidents on the outskirts of the city on Thursday. The incidents were reported from Medipally and Pahadishareef, and the deceased were identified as Bhagwan Bhai (16) and Mohd Ismail (17) respectively. According to Medipally police, Bhagwan, who hails from Rajasthan, went to a nearby private swimming pool with his cousins on Thursday afternoon, where he drowned as soon as he entered the water. A case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder has been registered as safety measures were neglected at the pool. In another incident, five people from Misri Gunj, including Mohd Ismail, came to the Jalpally lake and while playing there, Ismail drowned. A case of suspicious death has been registered