New Delhi: The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has refuted claims that athletes’ personal equipment sustained damage when the Jawaharlal Nehru (JLN) Stadium was trashed during Diljit Dosanjh’s ‘Dil-Luminati’ concert.
“We don’t need to give athletes reparations because all equipment at JLN belongs to the SAI,” said a representative of the sports body.
This comes after a video posted by Asian Youth gold medallist Beant Singh on Instagram Monday, which showed the stadium in complete disarray after Dosanjh’s two-day concert, sparked outrage. Damaged hurdles were seen piled up haphazardly, and there were used bottles, plates and glasses everywhere. “Sports equipment personally belonging to athletes were also vandalised and damaged,” Beant Singh told ThePrint.
Athletes expressed shock as they found water bottles, chicken bones, beer bottles strewn across the athletics track at the stadium. “We have no problem with Diljit or the stadium organising a concert. But we do have a problem with how our space is treated. The stadium was vandalised, equipment kept in rooms was broken,” Singh said.
The SAI representative said the organisers were given 24 hours to clean the stadium as part of the contract. “Since the concert ended late at night on Sunday, the arena hadn’t been cleaned properly by Monday morning. The stadium was anyway closed to athletes till 1 November, since the space had also been booked for 2 days for the Diljit concert, and then for an ISL match.”
But athletes said their space should have been treated with more respect and dignity. They also raised red flags over the method of cleaning the track. “The track would potentially be more damaged by the cycle rickshaws running over it and the hard point broomsticks used on the synthetic running track,” said an athlete on condition of anonymity.
The SAI representative quoted earlier said that whenever the JLN stadium is booked for an event, a rent agreement is signed between the stadium and the rentee, under which the stadium also takes a security deposit amount to cover any potential damage. The agreement also has a penalty clause, under which any damage to the infrastructure is borne by the rentee.
“One day’s rent for the venue is taken as a security deposit. After the event, once the venue is handed back by the organiser, an audit of the venue is done by the maintenance agency of SAI (in this case, the Central Public Works Department) and the cost of any damage done is deducted from the safety deposit,” a SAI official told ThePrint.
The JLN stadium in Delhi, built for the 1982 Asian Games, has also emerged as a popular arena for concerts.
Recently, Shreya Ghoshal and Arijit Singh also performed there, but the concerts were not held in the central arena. Before this, a cultural event by the Union government was organised in the central arena.
Athletes said the concert dates also messed with their training schedule for the upcoming national championship in Odisha, but SAI organisers disputed this.
JLN doesn’t come under SAI’s centres for excellence, a SAI official said, adding that training happens in Patiala or Bengaluru only. The official said Khelo India’s ‘come and play’ programme happens at JLN, where children can play for free.
The inside arena is not meant for athletes, the official added.
Beant Singh, however, said the track outside the arena is in bad shape, and training on it would lead to injury. “The track is not well-maintained and is uneven, it is not for athletes to train on,” he added, saying athletes usually train inside, and had been preparing for national championships scheduled in Odisha.
But for SAI, the matter is closed. The area has been cleaned and handed over to them, and any losses would be recovered from the concert organisers.
SAI also raised questions on the civic sense of concert attendees. “People had shown up in Mercedes, and paid up to Rs 1 lakh for this concert, but they didn’t have the basic civic sense of putting their garbage in trash cans. We should learn these skills from the Japanese,” said an official.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
Also Read: These ‘failed athletes’ at GoSports power India’s Olympic, Paralympic dream—and break barriers