Gym owners take out protest march demand fitness centres be allowed to reopen
New Delhi Jan 29 PTI Hundreds of gym owners on Saturday took out a protest march to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals residence here to oppose the DDMAs decision to keep fitness centres closed even as the number of Covid cases have come down in the cityDemanding that gyms and spas be allowed to reopen and raising slogans against the government demonstrators started their march from the Chandgi Ram Akhara to Flagstaff Road in the Civil LinesThey however were stopped by police a few metres away from the chief ministers residenceThough the Delhi Disaster Management Authority DDMA on Thursday lifted the weekend curfew and also allowed restaurants bars and cinema halls to operate with 50 per cent capacity gyms and schools in the city are still shutRestrictions had come into force under a yellow alert issued by the authority in December last year when the Covid positivity rate had crossed 05 per cent in the national capitalWe took out the protest march to make the government and the Delhi lieutenant governor L-G hear the plight of gym owners and others engaged in this business said Chirag Sethi the president of the Delhi Gym Association DGA under which the agitation was organisedThe fitness industry has already suffered a lot due to the Covid pandemic in the last two years and not allowing our establishments to reopen will prove to be a death warrant for our businesses he told PTIHe said that Covid cases in the city have come down drastically and other business establishments such as multiplexes restaurants and bars have been allowed to open Then why are fitness centres not being permitted to function Sethi askedThis is a genuine demand The government and the DDMA should consider it in its next meeting as soon as possible Sethi saidLater in a statement he claimed that fitness centres are open in neighbouring states but no surge in cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is being seen because of gymsNo case of Covid transmission has been seen in any gym all over the world Sethi saidDo we want the people of Delhi to stay unhealthy unfit and obese If gyms are not opened soon then thousands of gym owners and their families will come on the road to protest against this he warned in the statementThe protest was attended by over 200 gym owners fitness trainers and staff members They demanded that gyms be opened immediately to save them from losing their livelihoodThe DGA on Friday had said that gym owners and its members would be staging a protest near the L-Gs residence but according to it they were not granted permissionSethi had earlier said that the DDMAs decision to keep gyms shut is affecting the livelihood of around 5 lakh people There are around 5500 gyms in the city he had saidThe number of daily cases in Delhi has been on the decline after touching a record high of 28867 on January 13Delhi on Friday reported 4044 fresh COVID-19 cases and 25 deathsThe positivity rate which was 306 per cent on January 14 now according to data released on Friday stands at 86 per cent for the city PTI AKM ANB ANB
New Delhi Jan 29 PTI Hundreds of gym owners on Saturday took out a protest march to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals residence here to oppose the DDMAs decision to keep fitness centres closed even as the number of Covid cases have come down in the cityDemanding that gyms and spas be allowed to reopen and raising slogans against the government demonstrators started their march from the Chandgi Ram Akhara to Flagstaff Road in the Civil LinesThey however were stopped by police a few metres away from the chief ministers residenceThough the Delhi Disaster Management Authority DDMA on Thursday lifted the weekend curfew and also allowed restaurants bars and cinema halls to operate with 50 per cent capacity gyms and schools in the city are still shutRestrictions had come into force under a yellow alert issued by the authority in December last year when the Covid positivity rate had crossed 05 per cent in the national capitalWe took out the protest march to make the government and the Delhi lieutenant governor L-G hear the plight of gym owners and others engaged in this business said Chirag Sethi the president of the Delhi Gym Association DGA under which the agitation was organisedThe fitness industry has already suffered a lot due to the Covid pandemic in the last two years and not allowing our establishments to reopen will prove to be a death warrant for our businesses he told PTIHe said that Covid cases in the city have come down drastically and other business establishments such as multiplexes restaurants and bars have been allowed to open Then why are fitness centres not being permitted to function Sethi askedThis is a genuine demand The government and the DDMA should consider it in its next meeting as soon as possible Sethi saidLater in a statement he claimed that fitness centres are open in neighbouring states but no surge in cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is being seen because of gymsNo case of Covid transmission has been seen in any gym all over the world Sethi saidDo we want the people of Delhi to stay unhealthy unfit and obese If gyms are not opened soon then thousands of gym owners and their families will come on the road to protest against this he warned in the statementThe protest was attended by over 200 gym owners fitness trainers and staff members They demanded that gyms be opened immediately to save them from losing their livelihoodThe DGA on Friday had said that gym owners and its members would be staging a protest near the L-Gs residence but according to it they were not granted permissionSethi had earlier said that the DDMAs decision to keep gyms shut is affecting the livelihood of around 5 lakh people There are around 5500 gyms in the city he had saidThe number of daily cases in Delhi has been on the decline after touching a record high of 28867 on January 13Delhi on Friday reported 4044 fresh COVID-19 cases and 25 deathsThe positivity rate which was 306 per cent on January 14 now according to data released on Friday stands at 86 per cent for the city PTI AKM ANB ANB
