Come exercise for free in Dubai parks

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Dubai Municipality relaxes rules for yoga and fitness practitioners using parks

Dubai — Health-conscious joggers yoga enthusiasts and other fitness freaks in Dubai can now kick off their day afresh for free.

Dubai parks will be open for residents to exercise in its lush green environment even before the normal working hour. And that too without an entry fee a senior Dubai Municipality official said on Sunday.

“We understand the need to encourage physical activities such as yoga Tai Chi and Art of Living for example” said Mohammed Al Fardan the head of Parks at the Parks and Horticulture Department of the Dubai Municipality.

Al Fardan was replying to a query by Khaleej Times at a Press conference held to announce the first International Yoga Day celebrations to be hosted by the municipality on June 12.

The change in policy does not mean everybody can start thronging the parks before they open.

“We don’t want families coming for picnic and barbeques and queuing up with kids to avoid the fee by entering the park before 8am” Al Fardan clarified.

“Parks have the best environment for activities that help residents improve their health. People want to do these exercises earlier in the morning before the parks open at 8am. So we are allowing them to enter the park if they wish to come early morning even before the parks are technically open. We are not charging them the entry fee also.”

The official’s comments were considered a welcome shift in the policy of the municipality that had earlier put certain conditions to restrict the visitors from practising yoga and other exercises at the parks.

In 2012 the then director of the Parks and Horticulture Department had said that people should take special permission from the department to exercise or perform yoga at the parks with certain conditions if they are part of groups representing companies associations etc. The fine for not abiding by the rules and damaging the landscape or plucking the flowers from the parks is Dh1000.

Guruji KB Madhavan founder of Friends of Yoga that has partnered with the municipality to host the International Yoga Day event said the new decision is very helpful specifically because early morning is the perfect time for doing yoga and other fitness activities.

In Zabeel Park for example he said the group’s members used to practise yoga on the landscaped area outside the compound wall.

“But we had some issues because of the construction works. When we approached the municipality they were very cooperative and allowed us to start practising inside the park. This happened just a few months back” he said.

Al Fardan said the municipality has always encouraged the public to make use of the facilities in its parks to lead a healthy life. It had also conducted public health campaigns like the “Your Weight in Gold” contest and “Yalla Walk” initiative that were aimed at increasing the footfalls to the parks.

Apart from the exercise machines and courts for different ball games he said the municipality has made football pitches with artificial turf in some parks.

“The natural grass is good and nice. But it needs a lot of maintenance. When we close it for maintenance customers complain especially the children. We now have football pitches with artificial grass in Al Barsha Nad Al Hammar Al Nahda Al Ghusais and Mushrif parks. We have got very good feedback and we are going to have the same in five to six parks including Zabeel and Al Hebab this year” he added.