Lack of coordination on part of policemen manning the entry gates at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium left the enthusiastic spectators for the opening ceremony, as they struggled to locate the right gates to enter the arena on Sunday.
As the closing time for entry for the spectators to enter the stadium neared, there were reports of bar coding machines developing technical snags on gate numbers 6 and 9, as ticket holders jostled to get an entry into the stadium.
A large number of spectators had to return from the gates of the stadium after being told that they had come to the wrong place and that they should have taken another gate.
Many of the spectators were seen asking policemen and Games volunteers for right direction but they complained that they were not being properly guided.
Varun, after having been turned back from near the stadium, was fuming. He said that he had to go through the gate number 6 but he was let in from the wrong lane as the policeman did not have correct information themselves.
“I was made to walk for 45 minutes without being directed to the right gate,” he said.
Another spectator, Raman Gupta, holding the ticket for gate number 6 was seen asking the policemen for right direction after having been turned back for entered the wrong gate. “The Games volunteers too are of no use. They are not able to guide the ticket holders to the right lane,” fumed Mr Gupta.
The police constables manning the barricade at the Meharchand Market from where the spectators had to walk down to the entry gates of the stadium told this newspaper that they have not been briefed properly on how to check for the tickets and to direct the spectators.
Even a former Congress MLA from Bijwasan, Vijay Lochav, along with his wife, was seen hopping from one police post to another to get the right guidance for entering lane. “It appears that they have just not been properly briefed,” said Mr Lochav.
Meanwhile, 58-year-old Catherine Albright, a Welsh national, who had arrived in Delhi with her daughter to watch the opening ceremony of the Games, stated: “There is a big chaos before boarding the buses to reach the J.N. Stadium. We crossed the security somehow, but the bus driver and his help informed us that we have to board a bus from a different location.”
However, the Delhi transport department put up a good show as it facilitated to ferry the spectators through the low-floor buses from the Jor Bagh Metro station and from the Safdarjung airport to various points.