The exclusion of gyms from the state government’s revised notification that allowed salons and beauty parlours to operate with 50 per cent cap has triggered an outcry among fitness enthusiasts, trainers and gym owners.
Sunday’s notification announcing fresh curbs to check the surge in Covid cases had clubbed gyms with salons, parlours and spas while announcing a blanket shutdown.
A senior doctor called the order “puzzling”.
“Gyms should get a go-ahead before salons. Salons are for beautification. Gyms are for enhancing fitness and building natural resistance,” said interventional cardiologist Rabin Chakraborty.
If the previous notification discounted the therapeutic effect of gyms, Saturday’s revised order beat common sense, said people who are part of the fitness industry.
“Gyms are not an extension of vanity. They are part of preventive medicine. Either people in power are in the dark or they are in denial mode,” said Ranadeep Moitra, the co-owner of Endorphins chain. “Even if I buy their argument in clubbing gyms with salons and parlours, why exclude gyms in the revised order? This defies logic.”
Many trainers pointed out that enforcing social distancing norms would be easier in a gym than in a salon.
“In a parlour or a salon, physical contact between a client and a beautician is almost unavoidable. In a gym, a patron would mostly touch an equipment. If the equipment is sanitised regularly, half the job is done,” said Chinmoy Roy, a former strength and conditioning coach of the BCCI and the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and now a trainer at Kronos gym on Sarat Bose Road.
“Our lymphatic system (a network of tissues, vessels and organs that work together to move a watery fluid called lymph back into the circulatory system and forms a major part of the immune system) is triggered by exercise. Working out makes the lymphatic system pro-active and it is well known that the lymphatic system is the best defence against virus and bacteria,” he said.
Regulars said there was no substitute to working out at a gym. “I have been working out at home for the past few days. But it is much better with equipment and under the supervision of my trainer,” said Pritam Bhattacharya, 38, a Dum Dum resident.
The Gym Owners’ Forum of Bengal wrote a letter to the chief minister on Tuesday, requesting the government to reconsider the ban on gyms. “We are also open to the idea of running the gyms on a 50 per cent capacity in a shift wise manner,” the letter said.
Gagan Sachdev, the owner of the Karma Fitness Studio chain and a member of the Gym Owners’ Forum, said the revised order was “deeply frustrating”.
“Even if we leave aside the health benefits and look into the livelihood issue, the fitness industry sustains around 2 lakh people. We welcome the decision to open salons and parlours but the same logic should have led the government to let gyms operate with 50 per cent cap as well,” he said.
Multiple calls and a message to the chief secretary of Bengal, HK Dwivedi, to seek a response went unanswered.
