The Chennai City Corporation and Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority have finally embarked on their first safety audit of swimming pools in Chennai, the Times of India reported.
This comes after an eight-year-old girl and a bank executive drowned in two different pools in the city on Saturday.
Pool owners too have reportedly woken up to the lack of safety regulations, including expired lifeguard certification.
“So far there are no exclusive guidelines for the construction of pools in multi-storey complexes,” KS Kandasamy, deputy commissioner (works), Greater Chennai Corporation told TOI. "Some sites that have pools are also being inspected to evaluate the safety standards. This is the first time that an audit like this is being carried out and regulations will be reviewed,” he added.
There are currently no statistics available on number of pools in the city. In addition to this, most pools in the city do not follow the international standards for safety.
For instance, the ratio as per protocol is one lifeguard per 20 swimmers but that is hardly ever the case, TOI reported.
While the eight-year-old girl drowned in front of her father and trainer during a summer camp in Mogappair East, the 24-year-old banker drowned in the YMCA pool in Nandanam.
According to reports, the banker was not familiar with swimming and was advised to stay in the shallow end of the pool. He allegedly however drifted to the deep end. It was only after his friend noticed that he was missing, that the trainer jumped into action.