madurai irked by official apathy over the poorlymaintained swimming pool at the race course stadium in the city a large number of registered members who had come for practice on sunday morning resorted to a road roko in front of the stadium the swimming pool inside the premises is maintained by the youth services and sports development authority the members were forced to resort to the protest since their complaint with the district sports officer went in vain and they even alleged that he abused them verbally when we brought the issue to the notice of the district sports officer s murugan he did not respond positively when we questioned the manner in which he responded he entered into a heated argument with us and reprimanded us he even went to the extent of using derogatory remarks against us even as children and women were present near the pool said d suresh kumar a member from k pudur having no other option about 100 members including men women and children staged a road roko in front of the stadium they demanded the officials for better maintenance of the swimming pool they said that the water in the pool is not changed at regular intervals as a result of which the members are often affected by skin problems and allergies they charged v sureshkanna a member from k k nagar said that he was suffering from skin problems due to the impure water he approached more than three skin specialists in the city only to be advised not to continue to practice in the pool my 11yearold son and i are paid members of the pool we paid rs 3000 each for annual membership now i stopped swimming in the pool at all my son has also started feeling some allergic problems i should stop him too he said when i approached the district sports officer he paid no heed and told me that if i am not comfortable why i should use it he also asked us not to use the pool if we complain about the water i have wasted my money by paying the annual membership said r kannan another member the members also charged against the sports officer saying that he is using the pool for his personal use in the evenings being vacation days a large number of students and elders would practice in the pool during the evenings but we are asked to leave early to give way for him while he uses the pool we should leave the place until he finishes his bath the employees would urge us to leave the place claimed sundar another member however s murugan who came to the pool while the members were staging protest denied all the charges he said that the water is frequently changed and the pool is maintained well when contacted r k durai singh regional senior manager sports development authority of tamil nadu madurai region said there is no need to highlight the