Piles of garbage at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in the aftermath of singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh's two-day concert drew severe criticism from athletes who train regularly there. (More Sports News)
The stadium, which is India’s premier track and field venue, hosted the 'Dil-Luminati' concert on October 26 and 27 and drew almost 40,000 fans on each night. This wasn't the first time that such an event was held at the venue, which has hosted concerts by famous international stars like Bryan Adams (2004) and Ricky Martin (1998) in the past. But the after-effects of Dosanjh's gig were sharply criticised by the athletes.
Delhi's middle-distance runner Beant Singh posted photos and a video of the stadium's track-and-field area which was littered with garbage, alcohol containers and damaged athletics equipment.
"This is where athletes train, but here people had alcohol, danced and partied. Because of these kind of things, the stadium will remain close for 10-10 days. The athletics equipment like the hurdles have been broken and thrown here and there," he wrote on social media platform Instagram.
"This is the situation of sport, sportspersons and stadium in India. .... medals do not come in the Olympics because there is no respect and support for sportspersons in this country."
The 25-year-old Singh had bagged a silver and a bronze in the 2014 and 2018 National Open Championships respectively.
Meanwhile, the Sports Authority of India (SAI), which owns the stadium, reportedly promised a clean-up in the next 24 hours. SAI said its contract with the concert organisers stated clearly that the stadium would be returned to the body in the "same condition that it was handed over to them."
"More than 70,000 people attended the concert over two days and the cleaning will take 24 hours. The stadium is expected to be cleaned up by the 29th," a PTI report quoted a top SAI source as saying.
But for athletes like Singh, it was heartbreaking to watch the place that is their training base in the condition it was in on Monday. In the caption of the video, he wrote: "Jo nuksan hua hai bacho ka vo to do, bache khud paise ikatthe karke samaan leke aate hain prctc k liye …." (At least pay for the loss incurred by these children, who collected money themselves and brought equipment for practice).
Earlier, a Hindustan Times report suggested that hurdles and other equipment were damaged on Friday as the organisers took over the venue before the two-day concert began on Saturday. Coaches reportedly said the hurdles belonging to athletes, which are kept near the warm up area, were damaged.
The stadium is also hosting Indian Super League football matches as Punjab FC uses it as its home venue. They have a match against Chennaiyin FC on Thursday.
This is not the first time that the JLN Stadium has been left in a disarray after public functions attended by large crowds.
"Athletes who train here have voiced their disappointment in the past also but nothing has changed," the aforementioned report quoted a track and field athlete from Delhi as saying.
Currently, the stadium is not hosting any national camp. It is, however, part of the 'Come and Play' scheme of SAI, which allows children and beginners to use the stadium's facilities free of cost for training purposes.
The venue was constructed to hold the athletics competitions of the 1982 Asian Games. It was renovated for the 2010 Commonwealth Games and both the opening and closing ceremonies of that showpiece were held here.
The sad state of post-event cleanliness is in stark contrast to several other countries, where organizers and even spectators make it a point to leave the venue spick and span soon after the match or concert is over. The Japanese are renowned for cleaning up after games, and videos of them picking up litter after FIFA World Cup 2022 matches had gone viral on social media.
(With PTI inputs)
