BBMP officials to inspect swimming pools to ensure life guards, adult supervision

Bengaluru: It’s summer time and swimming pools will be filled with children. Over the past few years, there have been incidents of children drowning in pools, either because life guards were not present or the children were not being supervised by adults.

Now the BBMP has directed officials to inspect all public and private pools and those in apartments to examine if there are life guards deployed or supervised by professionals. If these norms are not adhered to, the owners’ licences will be seized and the pools closed till the rules are followed.

A senior BBMP officer “Every summer, we have incidents of kids drowning in swimming pools, most of which occur in apartments. We have asked officials to inspect public and private pools and ensure that lifeguards are deployed. If there is no one to supervise the children, we will close the pool and penalise the owner.”

He said, “These are serious issues that need to be looked into and preventive measures taken before any untoward incident occurs. Swimming pools in apartments are the most neglected. Parents leave their children in pools, which do not have life guards or adult supervision. We will send a circular to all apartments that have swimming pools to post life guards. Also, adult supervision is mandatory at all times.”

Apartment associations should ensure that all necessary steps are taken at swimming pools, said another officer. “Children entering pools should be monitored. But in apartments there is callousness, which results in drowning. We will ensure that this summer season, pools are inspected frequently by officials.”