Almost half the summer season has passed but the Punjab University’s swimming pool has not opened yet. Students have been complained an unnecessary delay in provision of a swimming pool facility to them. The swimming pool is usually opened on May 1, when the summer season is on its peak.
The varsity’s swimming pool was constructed in 1971 and had been proving to be a respite from heat for the students, especially those living in hostels.
It has also attracted people from various educational institutes as well. Many institutes including Government College University Lahore arrange trials of students applying for admission on a sports basis in the swimming category. This year, if the pool is not opened, those institutes might have to make some other arrangements in this regard.
The swimming pool has been under construction over the last two months and all the piping and filtration system has being changed, officials told Pakistan Today.
According to PU Sports Department, the delay in opening was owing to the pool’s overhauling. Additional Director Sports Chaudhary Anwar said that the iron pipes were used when it was constructed back in 1971 and they had rusted over the last 42 years. He added that the water purification and filtration system was also taking its last breath, thus it needed to be overhauled. He said that renovation and overhauling was almost complete, and the pool would be opened in a few more days. He thanked the PU VC for his personal interest in the pool’s renovation. “The VC is a sportsperson himself and he acted immediately at our request and released funds for the project,” he said. “The project was delayed because of the project contractor,” an employee in the department concerned told Pakistan Today on condition of anonymity. A student of ICS, Osama Shafiq, said that the university should have completed repairs before summers. “The summers are not unpredictable. The authorities should have done it earlier.” A student, Hassan Hafeez, said that summers especially affected those students whose classes would continue until the end of July and in some departments there were no vacations. Therefore, in such conditions it was necessary to have the swimming pool to cool off. Hostel boarders, Haseeb Ahmad and Israr-ul-Hassan Naqvi, said that the suspension of this facility had added to the misery of long power outages. “Like last year, the university is under attack from load shedding. In such conditions, the swimming pool seemed the only refuge, which
is not available
this year.”
