The Jawarhal Nehru Stadium (JLN), the nation’s premier training facility for athletes of all sports, is in ruins following Diljit Dosanjh’s two-day performance in New Delhi. Athletes were astounded by the condition of the stadium and the training facilities when they arrived on Monday morning. It was nearly impossible to breathe, let alone train, due to the abundance of plastic bags, food waste, beer bottles, and trash heaps.
Due to Diljit Dosanjh’s musical event on October 26 and 27, the track was blocked for ten days. As organisers clean up, it is anticipated to stay closed for a few more days. As a result, a number of competitors have been forced to relocate to the less-maintained warm-up track outside the main stadium in order to prepare for the Junior National Championships and other local events. This has interfered with their training, they said.
The trainees’ sporting equipment was ruined by the organisers. Obstacles were thrown into a corner and locks were broken. Even worse, the trainees were disheartened to see beer bottles, plastic, food, and rubbish scattered around by Dosanjh’s Dil-Luminati tour attendees when they arrived at JLN Stadium, which is controlled by the Sports Authority of India.
“It was such a bad sight. We worship this place and see what they have done?” said sprinter Ajit, who is preparing for the junior nationals in Odisha, which was postponed last week due to Cyclone Dana. The All India Police Championships is also scheduled for next month.
“We tried cleaning up the place but it was not possible,” said the Delhi state and School Games Federation of India medallist.
Another Delhi sprinter Rahul Raj Mahato said it was difficult to train on the outside warm-up track as it is old and worn out. “You can see the base. There is a chance of injury. They (concert organisers) damaged our hurdles. Who will pay?”
Beant Singh, a Youth Asia 800m champion was seething. “We enter the stadium after taking a bow. This is the respect we have. We take care and clear debris. It is not meant to hold a party. How can elite athletes train here?”
Renovated for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the JLN Stadium served as the centrepiece of the 1982 Asian Games. However, because of the incorrect re-laying of the synthetic track, which has acquired a “depression,” it no longer holds World Athletics’ Class 1 certification. The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has de-notified the venue as a National Centre of Excellence, even though they have made some minor renovations and reopened it for training.
A recent concert that lasted two days drew almost 70,000 attendees, according to SAI. They stress that their agreement with the event organisers requires that the stadium be returned in the same state as it was given, and they anticipate the facility being cleaned by the 29th.
But after the concert’s first day, it was observed that the venue lacked trash cans, so many people threw trash—such as pizza boxes, water bottles, and empty beer bottles—on the track, which was left uncovered. Meharpreet Kaur, 29, who was present at the event, said that the organisers made a serious mistake.
In order to make money from both sporting and non-sporting activities, SAI uses a Public Private Partnership model to administer the stadium. According to an official, scheduling dates for state-level competitions is difficult because the facility mainly hosts private events.
SAI responded to the criticism by explaining that the event was allowed because there were no training camps planned at the time. They pointed out that elite, junior, and sub-junior athletes are not currently served by the JLN Stadium, which primarily serves youngsters in the Come and Play program. Coaches disputed this, pointing out that athletes train there from places like Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Bihar. The stadium is essential for many top, up-and-coming, and paraathletes because many out-of-town athletes depend on adjacent rental lodgings.
