July 27: The remodelled Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium was inaugurated by sports minister M.S. Gill and chief minister Sheila Dixit along with Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi on Tuesday but a careful look provides a different picture. The venue will host the opening and closing ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games apart from staging the athletics, weightlifting and lawn bowls events.
Work is still on at the four major entrances leading to the 60,000-capacity stadium, with tiling, laying of concrete and landscaping left. Sources said that finishing touches were still being given to the press area and cubicles for foreign officials in the stadium, refurbished at a whopping Rs 760 crores. Unused construction materials lies around the stadium along with other debris. The light showers on the day left the turf area soggy and muddy with puddles on the newly-laid 400 metre synthetic track.
It is to be noted that the stadium had missed several deadlines besides the latest one being June 30 despite the Central Public Works Department beginning construction work almost three years back.
The delay in work here had forced the OC to postpone an international weightlifting meet scheduled for July 14 to 16 as the required arena is still incomplete. Considering the situation, even hosting the Asian All Star Athletics meet (a test event) beginning on Thursday seems bleak.
The weightlifting venue, which is also part of the complex is expected to be inaugurated in the next three days. Besides, work is still on at the parking lot earmarked for the media and Games officials along with the facility for specialised buses that will be used for the athletes.
If the monsoon continues to inundate Delhi during the October 3 to 14 Games, the preparedness of the construction agencies is likely to be further put to test. The OC is also yet to start with the overlays and cabling at the venue besides installing the aerostat for which anchor points have been built by the CPWD. The overlays are expected to take atleast 15 days.
CPWD project manager and superintending engineer Ranjit Singh though told this paper that all the landscaping work would be completed in a week’s time. “The stadium is 99 per cent ready and these are minor works which will take somewhere between five to seven days,” Ranjit said on Tuesday.
Asked about the drainage system at the stadium that was rendered ineffective by the afternoon showers, Ranjit said: “The field of play has a state-of-the-art drainage system in place. It is a new stadium so it will take some time before the permeability of the soil under the turf is tested. I think it will not take more than two hours for the water to get drained out.”
“About the track, it is made by the German experts, and the small pools you see are not on the tracks but the non-performing area. I assure that those pools will vanish in not more than 15 minutes,” he said. Speaking about the beautification work left in the stadium, director horticulture CPWD Satyavir Singh said that it would be completed in the next 10-15 days.
“We have already bought the flower and tree saplings to be planted in the parks and green areas of the stadium. But there is much work left on levelling the soil before anything can be planted as the soil in and around the stadium has been dug up for tunnelling and cabling work,” Satyavir said. Meanwhile, work around the stadium like developing approach roads, streetscaping pavements, completing the foot overbridge on Bhisham Pitamah Marg and giving finishing touches to the entrances — all of which is to be carried out by the MCD — is yet to be completed.
A senior MCD functionary said that the entire process could be completed only around August 15 or 20. “None of the work is 100 per cent complete. However, some work around the entrances are more than 90 per cent done,” said the official. He added that though the proposed deadline was July 31, it would take at least a fortnight to complete the work.
“BSES had to remove a transformer on Bhisham Pitamah Marg one-and-a-half year ago. But they have begun the job only now,” said the official. The basic structure of the foot overbridge — to connect Sai Mandir with the stadium on Bhisham Pitamah Marg — has been completed. But the installation of the escalator may take time and the entire project may be completed only around August 31, said the official.