NEW DELHI: Savita Devi, a 52-year-old resident of an urban village in Chirag Dilli, firmly holds the two wheels of the tai chi spinner and turns them in opposite directions. “I also like the one where you feel as if you are treading on water,” she says, referring quaintly to the air walker.Devi regularly visited the Millennium Park near the dismantled BRT corridor in Chirag Dilli earlier too, but it was just for a walk with friends. Today, she is among the substantial number of women who use the open gym created in the park. The women stroll and share gossip as usual, but now they stretch their muscles too. They laugh when asked if they have ever been to a professional gym. “Who has the time or money to go to a gym? And wouldn’t it seem a bit odd to be neglecting household chores to join a gym?” asks Devi.In 2016, the three municipal corporations first installed open gyms in the city’s parks , and the response has been great, with even sections earlier unable to afford exercise equipment or gym memberships now gleefully gathering in numbers for the daily physical exertions.The way these gyms have been conceptualised, with basic equipment and signboards at each giving instructions on their use, it has been easy and safe for newcomers, like Radha, a domestic help in Mayur Vihar Phase I, to take to them. Every morning, before going to work, Radha spends 20 minutes flexing her body in the company of people from all economic groups, young and old.Experts, of course, advise caution. Dr Dharam Pandey, head of the department of physiotherapy at BLK Hospital, agrees that open gyms are a positive addition to public parks, but a modicum of assistance/supervision is a must. “WHO considers exercise as form of medicine, but only if done correctly,” Pandey notes. People who have the optimum level of fitness and wish to maintain it can use open gyms but if anyone with a problem such as knee pain should first consult experts.In lieu of trainers, the civic bodies have put up boards that explain the equipment and instruct people on how to use them properly. Dr Pandey says that the corporations should organise monthly camps where fitness trainers explain to the general public the correct exercise techniques so muscle injury and other harm can be avoided. The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) plans to involve physiotherapists in advising the civic body about the equipment required by the people, especially women and senior citizens .“The public is benefitting greatly from these units. While the upper classes can go to expensive gyms, others can’t,” testifies BS Vohra, president, East Delhi RWAs Joint Front. Not surprisingly, the push for the erecting more open gyms is coming from citizen groups. Ritesh Dewan of Shalimar Bagh RWA said the locals have been haranguing the area councillor for one. “Senior citizens are the most vocal; everyone wants to spend half an hour on fitness,” said Dewan.SDMC installed its first open gym on a pilot basis in 2016 and has since expanded the number to 780 with plans for 110 more. The north corporation has erected 251 open gyms and plans to open 228 more gyms, while the east body has set up 48 gyms, and 16 are on the anvil. Each open gym requires around Rs 7 lakh for equipment and installation. Maintenance is the responsibility of the agencies that have been contracted to create the gyms.According to an in-house survey of SDMC’s horticulture department, which looks after parks, 22% of the open gym users are senior citizens and 23% children, around a third are women and the rest are men.“Apart from engaging people in healthy activities, the gyms have helped reduce crime rates in parks because more people come to the parks, which otherwise were used mostly by drug addicts and anti-social elements,” claimed Alok Singh, director (horticulture), SDMC.The popularity of the open gyms has spurred members of Parliament and state assembly to allocate a big percentage of their local area development funds for them. “It has become one of the most economical and easiest ways for elected representatives to connect with the people,” observes a civic official.Encouraged, the civic bodies are going a step ahead now. SDMC is initiating a project for an upgraded version of the open gym with walking tracks and three junctions for light, medium and heavy exercises. It will develop 20 parks with prominent instruction boards listing the benefits, age restrictions and exercises for each equipment.