This one at the 8th floor
rooftop – you can see the backdrop !
Enabling people
cooling down, there are two swimming pools along the stretch—the Marina
swimming pool and the Anna swimming pool. The Marina swimming pool situate opposite
to PWD/ Presidency College, was built in 1947 -
100m long and 30m wide, bigger than the standard Olympic pool size. It not deep – around 5.5 feet but for a small
portion of diving pool of 9 feet, which is not operational now. The Anna swimming pool opposite the clock
tower building of the University of Madras remaining partially hidden has two
pools – one used a diving pool in earlier days and the other swimming with
varying depths.
Remember
that in 1970s Anandhan [VS Kumar
Anandhan from Velvetithurai, Ceylon] attempted a Guinness record at Marina
pool, water treading [floating continuously]
for 3 odd days. We witnessed him
at Marina floating on water. Anandan
achieved many other feats including a record two-way swim from Thalaimannar in
Sri Lanka to Dhanushkodi on the Tamil Nadu coast. He passed away in attempting
to swim the English Channel in 1984.
The first South Asian Games [SAF] were held at Kathmandu, Nepal in 1984 and have since been
held every two years except for some occasions. In 1995, it was held grandly at Chennai. During
that time, infrastructure was created – we have the SAF village near Koyambedu
and the Aquatic complex in Velacherry.
The Complex was built at a cost
of Rs.11.32 crores. 4000 spectators can watch aquatic events in this complex
which consists of one 8-lane racing pool of 50m x 25m, one Diving Pool of 18m x
25m and one Warm up Pool of 25m x 25m, all conforming to international
standards. Besides these facilities, one
fitness center and an indoor hall for gymnastics are also available in the
complex.
Chennai has some
other swimming pools too – in Savera, Woodlands, and many other hotels. We have heard of ‘bleach’ which refers to a
number of chemicals that remove colour, whiten, or disinfect, often via oxidation. The bleaching process has been known for
ages, but not the same chemicals have been used earlier. Chlorine is the basis for the most commonly
used bleaches, and many people commonly call calcium hypochlorite as the
bleaching powder. Bleaching chemicals
and chlorine are often used in water in pools to disinfect and keep it
clean. This at times can cause
eye-irritation too.
Marine pool having
been maintained by PWD would at times be not in great shape – for a few years
now, there have been many coaching instructors who hire and teach their wards,
the way to learn swimming. TOI Chennai Edition today reports that Marina swimming pool will from now be
maintained by a private operator. Corporation of Chennai handed over the pool
following an ‘e-auction’ that concluded last Friday. The auction started at Rs.35
lakh and the winning bid was Rs.45 lakh.
Because
of summer vacation, the pool will remain open to the public for longer hours:
from 5.30am to 8.30pm.The same charge of `15 per hour will apply and it will
continue to be free to students of corporation schools. The revenue from
entries will, however, go to the private firm and not the corporation. The firm
has been asked to provide facilities such as lockers and swim wear, which are
chargeable. The primary revenue, however, will be through advertisements. “We
have demarcated space on walls inside and outside the pool building, which the
private operator can let out for ad revenue,’ said an official of the
corporation. About 150sqm outside the pool and 75sqm inside will be demarcated
for the operator. “Corporation will use 50sqm of this space to display our own
announcements,” he added.
To
participate in the auction, all firms had to deposit Rs.5 lakh. The private
firm will now pay Chennai Corporation Rs.45 lakh every year, which will
increase by 5% annually . The contract is for three years. Based on its
performance, we will take a call on renewing the contract for two more years,
the civic official said.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
21st May 2015.
