PONDA: The swimming pool at the Ponda Sports Complex is running dry for the last forty days due to a leakage, which the officials are struggling to identify.
The water level in the swimming pool has almost touched the bottom and a part of the floor has even dried up.
This has forced hundreds of children either to cancel their swimming lessons or travel to Margao Swimming Complex to continue the same.
Taking serious note of this, Ponda MLA Ravi Naik, Sports Complex and PWD officials inspected the swimming pool on Tuesday to understand the problem firsthand.
During the inspection, Engineer Deepak Lotlikar told Ravi that at least one lakh liters of filtered water are required to fill up the tank per day.
The contractor, who has been awarded the work of fixing the problem, said that he was checking the pipeline supplying water to the swimming pool, but did not find any leakage. The contractor even dug up the area around the swimming pool looking for a leakage, but found none. He, however, assured the MLA that he would find the fault soon and the pool would be ready within a month.
The swimming pool and sports complex was an initiative of Ponda MLA Ravi Naik and the same was constructed at a cost of around Rs 7 crore. It was inaugurated in 2009 by then chief minister Digambar Kamat. The project was successfully run for many years and around two years ago, the authorities began neglecting its maintenance. During his tenure as Ponda MLA, Lavoo Maledar put in some efforts to keep the swimming pool and sports complex running. However, he could not ensure major maintenance of the complex.
Meanwhile, Ravi Naik has blamed a minister for halting the work of upgrading the Sports Complex, which includes reconstruction of the indoor stadium.
