Reopening of Delhi Gyms helps financial survival of 500,000 families

February 7, 2022

With COVID cases now falling in Delhi (India’s capital territory), the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) decided on Friday 4th February 2022 to allow the reopening of gyms with certain restrictions. DDMA had ordered the closure of gyms for the first time in December 2021 when case numbers increased significantly in Delhi.

Gym owners, managers and associations welcomed the city government's decision to allow the reopening of gyms with the Delhi Gym Association, an umbrella body of a large number of gyms running in the national capital, advising the decision will help 500,000 families survive financially.

Prior to the approval for reopening, Delhi Gym Association President, Bhupendra Sharma had taken to social media highlighting their situation and asked people “to share as much as you can so that it reaches the government and realize our problem and its solution is immediately solved.”

Chirag Sethi, vice president of the association also spotlighted the plight of the Delhi gym owners noting “Gym owners have already suffered a lot due to the lockdowns and all of them are buried under debts. We request the authorities to let us reopen our gyms and get back to making Delhi fitter again.

“The survival of five lakh families is directly dependent on this decision. Gyms have been open in other states and no spike in cases have been seen. We request the authorities to let us open our gyms to help us tide through this pandemic. In the past, we have followed all SOPs and we will continue to do so. We hope for a favourable decision this time.

Delhi Gym Association is now also calling on authorities to waiver the fixed charges for electricity and water to help gym owners survive these tough times with Chirag Sethi assuring that all gym owners will ensure COVID protocols are followed and everyone in the gym will be mandated to comply with safety norms.

This decision will also help Delhiites to get back on the track of fitness, Sethi added.

Anytime Fitness runs 105 centres across India. Vikas Jain, Managing Director of Anytime Fitness India told Business Insider ''the first lockdown had broken our back, and then two more (lockdowns) happened. This decision is certainly a breather and we are rejoicing it.

'To ensure safety, we have an online app where people can book their slots before coming to our centres, so that we allow only certain number of people at a time. Besides, thermal screening and oxygen level is checked for each and every person before allowing entry.

''This decision was much-needed, as trainers and other staff were shifting to other industries, and housekeeping employees really had a tough time too, though we had urged franchisees to help them to survive the lockdown, and many complied.”

Zuhaib Rana, proprietor of Gravitas gym in north Delhi's Ashok Vihar who had started the facility in early 2020 also told Business Insider “we faced a lockdown soon after we had started, it was really tough. For trainers and other staff, we had to curtail their salaries, as there was literally no earning. But, we supported them as these people had no savings and their survival was hand-to-mouth. The impact of the pandemic and the lockdown has been really tough on us.”

Rana highlighted that one of the other big issues the gym industry faced in Delhi concerned rental as “many landlords were not willing to extend contracts and the closure of gyms made matters worse for us.”

Image Credit: Delhi Gym Association Facebook

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