CHENNAI: Thirty-one-year-old Sridhar S lives in an informal settlement in Vyasarpadi. He wants to keep himself fit with physical exercise, but a private gym membership would set him back by at least Rs 300 per month — a luxury he cannot afford. For Sridhar, Corporation-run free gyms are the only source of fitness opportunities. However, the gym in his locality has been shut for over six years.
‘‘The gym here in Karunanidhi Street, Korukkupet was inaugurated eight years ago and it has been closed for at least six years,’’ says Sridhar, adding that since there are many youths who are professional football players in the locality, the gym would have served great purpose had it been functional.
Gyms to Balwadis
This is not the only Corporation-run gym in the city that has remained closed for many years with fitness equipment gathering dust. At the Ayanavaram Road gym, fitness equipment including a small treadmill has been pushed to a corner while the rest of the room has been turned into a pinboard for charts of alphabets, numbers, and animals. Two children sit with a slate on a desk — the gym is now a Balwadi.
Corporation sources say that since the gym had been locked for many years, children of the Balwadi in Konnur High Road were shifted here after their building was demolished for renovation.
However, parents are not happy. “When the centre was at Konnur High Road, seven children used to come. Now, after it has been shifted to the gym, only two children come. My son and I have to walk for around three kilometres to get here every day. The other mothers choose to keep their children at home,” says a child’s parent who did not want to be named.
Lack of maintenance
Express visited several gyms in the city, of which many were found to be lacking in maintenance. Some have shut shop or turned into a different facility according to convenience. The city Corporation runs 96 gyms and the funds for maintaining them are taken by the respective zones from their general maintenance fund. The gyms do not receive exclusive funds for maintenance.
A gym located at the Choolai Market functions only once or twice a week, say the locals. ‘‘When it opens, only two people come. Sometimes it even operates as a councillor’s office,’’ alleges a market vendor opposite to the gym.
Status check
In 2015, the then councillor, from the Ward Development Funds, set up a gym on Pantheon’s Street, Egmore. Residents rue that the gym has not seen the light of day. “We know that they brought in the equipment after they set it up. After that, we don’t know what happened but it was never opened for the public,” says Senthil P, a local resident who runs a tiffin stall outside the gym.
On the other hand, some modern Corporation gyms like the ones in T Nagar and Seshadri Street in Perungudi have a steady stream of visitors. The regulars say that the gyms have been maintained well.
No trainers
The gyms in Choolai, Doveton and Elephant Gate only have basic pieces of equipment such as bench press and dumbbells of the same weight. This has not attracted the youth population who prefer to do intense workouts.
‘‘All the private gyms have hydraulic equipment for legs, shoulders and biceps workout, while these Corporation-run gyms do not even have a treadmill,’’ says Wilson Prabhu, who frequents the gym in Elephant Gate. ‘‘The reason I come here is the membership is free. Private gyms are mostly air-conditioned and they charge `500 to `1,000 which is not affordable,’’ he says. Prabhu says that only two to three people visit the Corporation gym every day and the key to the gym is given to a woman from the neighbourhood.
Over the years, the Corporation has not upgraded their equipment at all. On inspection, Express found that basic types of equipment such as treadmill and EFX were missing in these gyms. G Dinesh, a 25-year-old, who goes to the Chennai Fitness Centre, a private gym in Washermenpet says the gym charges `500 per month has cardio equipment, treadmill and more importantly, dumbbells and discs of various sizes.
‘‘More than good equipment, the timings are flexible in private gyms. The gym also works in an organised way unlike Corporation gyms which no one knows when it will open or shut,’’ he shares.
All-women gyms
Though there are few women-only Corporation gyms, including one in Royapuram, most women do not visit the Corporation-run gyms because they are not women-friendly. This, some locals feel, is because of the lack of trainers or supervisors. ‘‘The gym in Elephant Gate functions in a haphazard way as people open it whenever they want. There are no proper timings,’’ says S Sudha, a resident.
She also shares that men who visit the gym mostly use it as a hangout spot in the evenings. ‘‘More women would use the gym if there was a supervisor and a trainer who would guide on daily workout routines,’’ she says. When contacted, a senior Corporation official said that instructions would be issued to the respective zones to keep the gyms running and to gauge public demand. “Wherever there is demand, the gyms are functioning well,” the official says.