The Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) has now got facilities of open air gym at 15 parks across the city. Two years ago, the city had started with one such facility at Buddha Jayanti Park, which later became five.
The development authority had introduced the open air gym concept in the city to instil the daily exercising plan in everybody’s lifestyle as most of the citizens were not active physically, but after the spread of the concept, there has been a dramatic rise in the footfall in the park and people from all walks of life are using the equipment to stay healthy.
It can be mentioned here that Urban Development Minister Pushpendra Singh Deo on the occasion of the 33rd foundation day of BDA, inaugurated the first open air gym facility on September 1, 2015 at Buddha Jayanti Park in Niladri Vihar.
later, in the same year, the Biju Patnaik Park near the Capital Hospital, the Kelucharan Park near Netaji Subhash Enclave, the Gadakana, Madhusudan Park at Pokhariput and the Kharavela Park near Khandagiri-Udayagiri caves were added to the list. Each set of outdoor fitness equipment comprised an air walker, sit-up bench, air swing, twister, set back or glider, push and pull up chair, knee/hip raise on parallel bars, big shoulder wheel, spinner, bench with fixed dumbbell, bench with fixed weight lift and poles with fixed weight.
Sources also added that from the three Smart Parks being planned in Sahid Nagar, one will have the open air gym facility in order to give the people of Smart District more smarter and healthier alternative to keep themselves active and fit.
Dr Sabyasachi Das, a local resident of Pokhariput, says, “The entire nation is virtually sitting on a diabetic bomb scare as the number of cases and stress related diseases are on the rise. If we go on exercising on daily basis, then we can actually delay or just get rid of any such threat in the future. So this initiative by BDA to make people exercise has become a very well-planned strategy to make the city liveable and smart. This has also been an objective in the Smart City proposal of Bhubaneswar.’’