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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\nA gym being sanitized in Salt Lake<\/span><\/p>\n KOLKATA: Battered and bruised by the pandemic, several gym-owners are staring at high monthly expenses for sanitization activities when they reopen next week. Some have already revised membership fees, adding a new head \u2014 sanitization charge.
\u201cThere has been zero revenue in the last four months and even when we reopen, we will have to invest heavily on sanitization on a daily basis, which will be difficult for us to pay all by ourselves. Hence, we have decided to charge a sanitization fee from the members and in exchange of the payment, there will be token gifts \u2014 a high-quality mask and a bottle of sanitizer,\u201d said Tuhin Bhattacharya, partner-director of Core Gym.
Gyms at Sector V rue that the extra expense on deep cleaning and fogging, apart from regular sanitization, will hurt them further as they do not see a large number of members back soon because most of them are IT professionals who are now working from home. \u201cThere will be additional expense of at least Rs 20,000 a month for sanitization after a huge first-time expense is borne. There will be a meeting of gym owners on Sunday to discuss the modalities of these additional costs and fresh set of rules and guidelines will be drawn up,\u201d said Saptarshi Mandi of Aventus Fitness.
Though the health ministry-prescribed standard operating procedures (SOPs) for gyms and yoga centres are yet to come out, most have devised a set of SOPs by their own and have started taking necessary measures, that includes spacing of equipment, dividing members into multiple time slots and heavy sanitization.
\u201cWe will allow a maximum of 10 people in a 1000 square feet space. Gyms that are bigger will proportionately increase the numbers they will allow at a time,\u201d said Tapas Maity, who runs six gyms in the city. \u201cWe have formed WhatsApp groups of our members and are giving them appointments so that there is no clash and extra numbers do not land up at the same time. We will not allow anyone to spend more than an hour,\u201d he added.
Even on the gym floor, members will be spread out into different \u201cgroups\u201d doing different regimen. Every alternate treadmill will be empty. \u201cWe have been told that we will be given which exercise set will be rationed for which day,\u201d said Satyendra Prasad, a gym member at Upohar.
\u201cWe have told our clients to bring their own towels and water bottles, so that there is minimal chance of infection,\u201d said Ajay Sarkar, lifestyle trainer of Soul Fitness at New Town and Yogam at Salt Lake. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n