Jhasketan Sahu Swimming Pool in Sambalpur, the first competition pool in the State, is set to get a major facelift following the visit of a team of experts recently.
The team comprising Secretary, Department of Sports and Youth Affairs, Sanatan Mohanty; former Director of SAI, VVSN Rao and swimming coach Surendra Naik visited the pool on August 12. They inquired about the problems of the swimming pool and discussed its renovation with Collector Balwant Singh.
District Sports Officer Gangadhar Behera said an estimate will be prepared on renovation and additional facilities required for the pool. He said the work for preparation of estimate has already been assigned and all efforts will be made to expedite the renovation work.
Established in 1977, the pool was the venue for State and national-level championships for 27 years. However, owing to the apathy of the Sambalpur Municipality that is responsible for its maintenance, the pool lies in a state of utter neglect.
Now the pool is filled with dirty water devoid of chlorination. While the filtration plant for the pool should run for eight to 10 hours daily, the former has been lying defunct. Moreover, the pool premises has turned into a godown for the Municipality authorities who are using it to keep dust bins and other items.
Earlier, former Revenue Divisional Commissioner (North) Dr Alekh Chandra Padihari had directed Aditya Aluminium to undertake renovation and development of the swimming pool and submit an action plan.
However, no tangible step has been taken in this regard so far.
