Chandigarh: Demanding re-opening of gyms, workers, trainers and owners of various gyms, situated in the city and in surrounding areas, held a protest at Matka Chowk in Chandigarh on Sunday.
Gym owners said they were in deep financial troubles and if gyms are not re-opened soon, they would be forced to shut down.
“I am paying huge amount for this place I have taken on rent in a market.
But there has been no income for over two months now.
How am I supposed to pay the rent and also give salaries to the staff?” said Jabir Singh, who runs a gym in Sector 22, Chandigarh.
Singh said most of the gyms in Chandigarh and Punjab are in dire straits.
“Most gyms are on the verge of closure.
The government must order to re-open them to save not only the gym owners but also the staff and the trainers,” added Singh.
The gyms were closed some more than two months ago due to surge in the Covid cases and also in the number of deaths.
According to the protestors, now that they cases have come down, the government should extend the relaxations, already given to shops, to gyms as well.
“Mohali recently extended shop timings and lifted the even-odd restrictions and even Chandigarh has been quite sympathetic to the cause of the shopkeepers.
But it seems no one is listening to us,” said Eklawya, who works as a gym trainer in Sector 8.
“I have not got any salary for two months now.
I have already started looking for some other job, finding which as you know won’t be an easy task,” added Eklawya.
The protestors also raised the issue of the alleged suicide by Nikhil Mehta, a gym trainer, last week.
Mehta had allegedly committed suicide after had been jobless for some months now due to closure of gyms.
Later, the gym owners and trainers of Punjab Gym Welfare Society met Punjab health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu and gave him a memorandum of their demands.
“The health minister has assured us that the gyms would be reopened soon,” said society in a statement.
Gym owners and trainers had also held a protest in Zirakpur on June 2.