On March 24, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation and warned about the dreaded Coronavirus as it was rapidly spreading in India, and on March 25, the Government of India announced the first phase of lockdown in the country which resulted in the closure of many activities, business for a brief amount of time.
Video chat, Video classes became a part of everyday work, masks, sanitizers became an integral part of our life, everyone stuck to their smartphones and smart appliances for their everyday work. It seems difficult for the people, yet they are doing their best to embrace the new normal, behavioral change to adapt to the situation.
Under ‘Mission Begin Again’ the Government has permitted to reopen businesses, major projects, activities in a phased manner. In Maharashtra, the state government also allowed many activities to restart in the state in a phased manner but did not allow gyms and fitness centers to restart the business.
But after a long wait of seven months, the Maharashtra Government on October 17 finally allowed gymnasiums and fitness centers in the state to start functioning from Dussehra, which falls on October 25 onwards. However, in a virtual meeting with representatives of gyms and fitness centers, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that group activities like Zumba and yoga and steam and sauna facilities won’t be allowed.
All gym freaks in Nagpur and fitness trainers of Maharashtra was requesting the State Government to allow Gyms to start. Gym owners of Nagpur say that we are very happy with the decision that they have finally got permission to start their gyms.
Government Guidelines are yet to come in this regard. However, most gyms of Nagpur have already started preparations and they have outlined how they will manage their operations.
Here is how different gyms owners in Nagpur are planning to reopen their fitness centers and waiting to welcome people back again.
The gym is ready to take all these precautions. Gym Owners do feel that it will take 2-3 months for them to revive their business, and after that things will be back to normal.
It further says that equipment in the gyms will have to be kept at an appropriate distance. The owners will also have to ensure that the entire area is fully disinfected before it is closed at night.
Poharkar’s Fitness Studio said, “We are excited to reopen our gates and welcome the fitness enthusiasts again. According to the current situation we all have to follow safety measures and be more cautious. As the government is yet to release any Standard Operating Plan but we have set our precautionary measures beforehand like we will be providing face shield to everyone. Not more than a batch of 15-20 people will be allowed at one time. After every batch, the place will be sanitized and everyone will have to wear gloves, masks, and face shields”.
Speaking about the how the business has been affected and what will be the prediction of fitness industry they added that “As we all know that from past seven months gyms were closed and due to pandemic people have a fear and this might affect the business at an initial stage but everything will be fine later”.
The owner of AB’s fitness said, “We are happy that the government has allowed gyms to reopen. Initially, there will be 7-8 batches in a day and only 8-10 people will be allowed to work out in every batch. After every 1 hour, the Gym will be sanitized”.
The owner of Akhada gym said, “We will be taking note of the body temperature of every member, we will take necessary information as well. Anyone having even the slightest bit of temperature or even the mildest symptoms will not be allowed to enter the gym premises. Timely sanitization of the place will be done on a regular basis as this is the new normal and it is how we have to adjust accordingly”.
