There’s no light at end of this tunnel

It seems that the Organising Committee (OC) of the Commonwealth Games has got its focus wrong. Rather than concentrating on successfully hosting the event, the OC appears to be more interested in the opening and closing ceremonies.

A tunnel, which has been constructed under the turf of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to facilitate the movements of participants during the opening and closing ceremonies, has resulted in continuous soil erosion during the past few days. The erosion is now threatening to damage the synthetic turf around the grassy area.

“There was no place for the tunnel when the stadium was redesigned,” said a senior stadium official, confirming that the tunnel was not a part of the original design and was only constructed after the OC insisted on it.

“It was decided to construct the tunnel because the OC said the participants of the opening and closing ceremonies should come out from under the ground to make it look more spectacular,” he added.

Remodelled and redesigned at a cost of Rs. 961 crores, the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium would be the showpiece venue in the Commonwealth Games. Apart from the opening and closing ceremonies, the stadium will play host to the athletics events.

The heavy rain in Delhi for the past few weeks has further complicated the problem, the official pointed out. “Holes have been created at several places on the ground. The CPWD has been doing its best by regularly putting extra soil and sand but we are yet to find a permanent solution to the problem,” he said.

The ministry of sports, it is believed, was not too happy with the construction of the tunnel at the last moment. On July 27, when the stadium was inaugurated, the union minister of sports, MS Gill, told OC chairman Suresh Kalmadi that the project got delayed because of the construction of the tunnel.

CK Valson, the competition manager of the Nehru Stadium, admitted that the tunnel was creating problems but insisted that the turf would be set right after the opening ceremony, scheduled on October 3.

“We have plans to get the turf re-laid immediately after the opening ceremony is over. This is a procedure which has been used in many countries and could be done in less than 24 hours,” said Valson, who admitted the process would incur a considerable expenditure.

An official of the OC, however, defended the decision to create the tunnel saying such things are common at mega events. “Even at the Beijing Olympics, the participants came through the tunnel. It adds to the glamour of the event,” Valson said.