With restaurants, hotels and bars across Maharashtra set to reopen on Monday with up to 50% occupancy, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Pune, Siddharth Shirole, has questioned why gymnasiums in the State continue to remain shut. On Sunday, he targeted the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government’s vacillation on re-opening fitness centres.
Mr. Shirole said the livelihoods of more than 30,000 families in Pune alone were severely afflicted by the continued closure of health establishments. The irony of this prolonged closure of gymnasiums, he argued, was in fact proving counter-productive to the health of citizens as the lack of daily exercise was lowering immunity levels.
‘Unfair restrictions’
“It has been more than 200 days since gymnasiums and fitness centers have been shut, while malls, hotels and public transport have been allowed to reopen. Gyms, which comparatively have a lesser density of social gatherings, have been subjected to unfair restrictions,” said the BJP MLA from Shivajinagar, who had written to the Chief Minister last month seeking immediate reopening of gyms.
Mr. Shirole said the shutdown of gyms across Maharashtra had disrupted the regular fitness regimen of health-conscious citizens. He said the restrictions did not make sense as gym owners, operators, trainers and their patrons were the most health-conscious among all citizens and rigorously observed hygiene rules.
“At a time when there is no vaccine against COVID-19 on the horizon, daily workouts can act as natural immune boosters to help combat this contagion. Since there is a clear pattern of the virus acutely afflicting those with comorbidities like obesity, high sugar levels and hypertension, it is essential for the State government to start opening up gyms,” he said, adding that other States had already reopened their health and fitness centres.
With surging liabilities, at least a 100-odd gyms in Pune have been forced to shut down, while many are struggling to keep their heads above water by seeking investment through partnership. Mounting rent charges, electricity bills and bank EMIs have spelt the death knell for many fitness establishments in the city.
Despite numerous protests by gym associations in Pune and elsewhere, along with repeated letters to civic authorities, the government, until now, has turned a deaf ear to them. Job losses in the health industry have been particularly high in bustling metros like Pune and Mumbai, with scores of gym trainers forced to quit and seek other employment avenues.
Earlier, the Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule, too, had urged the State government to re-open gyms. Ms. Sule, the MP from Baramati, had urged Chief Minister Thackeray to permit the functioning of gyms in August itself, observing that several gymnasium owners had invested heavily in their health centers.
The same month, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray as well as the BJP Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis had taken up the cudgels on behalf of gymnasium owners, urging the State government to reopen gyms by following norms laid down by the Union Health Ministry.
