New Delhi, Oct. 2: Come Sunday, the entire nation will soak itself in the grandeur of the opening ceremony of the 19th Commonwealth Games, but there will be a different battle going on elsewhere.
Sixty hours — that begins exactly after the opening ceremony winds up — is all that the authorities at the Jawaharlal Nehru will have in hand to get the venue ready for the first track and field event beginning on Wednesday.
And going by the looks of it, it would be quite a task. The authorities have kept 70 trucks ready, which would move into the stadium immediately after the ceremony, to clear the heavy equipment and dismantle the temporary stages that will showcase the ceremonies.
Said H.S. Kingra, special officer in-charge for the CWG, “The de-commissioning of the opening ceremony is a huge task and would require a very high level of managerial skills. It would be a race against time.”
Interestingly, a foreign firm is procuring grass near Meerut, that would cover the 2.5 acres area.
A similar drill would follow ahead of the closing ceremony to be held on October 14.