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Two days after a 17-year-old boy drowned at a Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC)-run swimming pool at Wanowrie, civic authorities have shut down the facility. Pune Municipal Commissioner Vikram Kumar said the civic administration has ordered an inquiry into the incident.
On Tuesday, the PMC officially closed the pool and served a show-cause notice to a private contractor demanding an explanation over the alleged negligence. Santosh Warule, Deputy Municipal Commissioner, PMC, said that an enquiry has been initiated into the incident and a detailed report will be submitted to the PMC commissioner.
PMC operates a total of 25 swimming pools of which 10 continue to be closed for repair work. “We will conduct a survey immediately to check whether norms are being followed by the pool contractors or not,” Warule said.
The development comes a month since Rear Admiral P D Sharma (retd), President of Pune-based Rashtriya Life Saving Society (RLSS), India, which has been working to prevent drowning accidents in pools, wrote to the Pune Municipal Commissioner seeking audits to ensure that swimming pool operators put safety systems in place.
Ganesh Patole, 17, died of drowning at the Wanowrie pool on March 20. “Our appeal for a pool safety exercise in the first or second week of March was, sadly, left unheard,” Admiral Sharma said.
“The letter was written a month ago as we wanted to express our concern and apprehension of possible drowning deaths in pools in Pune as they were being opened after a gap of two years. Since 2001 ,the Rashtriya Life Saving Society (India) has been appointed honorary consultants for safer swimming in Pune and had organised regular pool safety audits and workshops where pool lifeguards, owners and operators were exhorted to pay attention to safety norms and pool rules to ensure safety of users…But we are worried about this summer due to lack of preparation and lifesaving skills,” Admiral Sharma has said in his letter to PMC. “Now, the death of a young boy has just confirmed our worst fears,” adds Kavita Sharma, Vice President, RLSS-India.
As per the tender process, a contractor was appointed in July 2018 at the PMC-run pool in Wanowrie. However, due to the Covid pandemic, swimming pools remained shut for more than one-and-a-half years.
Meanwhile, Patole’s family members expressed shock at his drowning despite the pool being overcrowded on Sunday afternoon.
While the police have registered a case of accidental death, the family has been trying to file an FIR claiming negligence by the pool operator. “As against the limit of 40 people, there were more than 100 persons in the pool that day,” said a relative of Patole. “We have been trying to file a proper complaint for two days now,” Patole’s uncle Ashok said. “We cannot believe he is no more. Ganesh was enthusiastic about sports, used to run, swim and had even won a medal at a local cricket competition recently. During the lockdown, Ganesh had worked as a delivery boy with a local store to help in the household expenses. Ganesh had secured 90 per cent in Standard X,” he added.
When contacted, Deepak Lagad, Inspector, Wanowrie police station, said that police were investigating the matter.
