Are we there yet?

Newsline conducts a recce of the venues that are expected to be constructed and spruced up by the time the Commonwealth Games starts.

Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium:The main venue for hockey,the National Stadium turned out to be one of the best that Newsline visited. The gate that opens into India Gate was complete with wide pavements,surrounded by plants. The whole area,whether it was Pandara Road or the one leading up to the High Court,had spanking new pavements. All the horticultural work had been completed,and new streetlights and signages were found to be in place. The only incomplete spot was the other entrance,which opens towards Mathura Road. Construction materials and a mound of earth lay next to piles of twigs that had been dumped in front of the main gate. The guard said as there was little debris,it can be removed in a day or so. The place is expected to be completely ready by Thursday.

Indira Gandhi Stadium:“We will take at least five more days to complete it,” Sonu,a worker,told Newsline. He,along with six other persons,were busy building a portion of the sandstone wall that surrounds the venue. “The rest of the wall is over,only this is left,” he added. The roads leading to the stadium needed more work in terms of good pavements and street furniture. The ITO Flyover,on the other hand,was replete with broken pavements and the road leading to the venue was dumped with saplings in polythene bags — all waiting to be planted. However,no worker was found on the road leading to the venue; they were busy applying finishing touches to pavements at the stadium. The saving grace was the streetlights,which looked new.

TughlaQabad Shooting Range:The earth was all dug up outside the entrance of the range,and the plantation drive was not complete either. Stating that there was more work to do,a labourer at the spot said,“We will be here till September 15.” Trucks could be seen bringing in plants. At some places,cables and wires could be seen jutting out from the concrete. Though CCTV cameras had already been installed,metal detectors were yet to be positioned near the entrance. Saplings had been planted along macadamised roads.

Siri Fort Sports Complex:Construction work was being carried out on a war footing at this site. Grass was yet to be planted,and the roads had not been macadamised. The entire stadium was characterised by fallen branches and stagnating pools of water. Leave alone metal detectors,even work on the streetlights had not been completed. Slush occupied the spots where saplings had not been planted. However,workers at the spot preferred to paint a rosy picture of the goings-on. “The work is almost finished. It will be complete in 2-3 days,” one of them said.

Commonwealth Games Village:The road from Pragati Maidan leading to the Commonwealth Games Village is fairly spruced up. With Thursday being the last day for clearing malba off the streets,this stretch bore witness to frantic construction activity. On the Outer Ring Road,about a kilometre from the Games Village,planting of saplings was underway. An open nullah needs to be overlaid with grass at the site,and labourers say they need 10 more days to finish work on that. Outside the village,a procession of trucks could be seen heading to Burari in Wazirabad for dumping the malba. “We will finish clearing the malba by tonight,but planting of saplings may take longer,” a labourer said. The area under the Akshardam Flyover,a few metres away,looked like a conflict zone — the entire place strewn with malba. “We have it under control,it will be cleared by tonight,” a contractor’s representative said.

Delhi University Sports Complex:The area around the rugby stadium at the Delhi University Sports Complex,where rugby sevens will be played on October 11 and 12,is being given final touch-ups. The dug-up approach road to an entrance of the stadium from the DU campus,to be used by the media and logistics teams,is hardly motorable. Construction of a drain and pavement on the same road has reached the half-way mark. The deadline for the project by Engineers India Limited,delayed due to incessant rains,is September 15. Though the last of the seats are being fixed in the stands,the tiling work around it is far from over. Rain has muddied large portions of the area near the stands,which could hamper landscaping. Officials said that work on the parking area has also been held up due to the rain. The stadium has roads on three sides,and a post-graduate women’s hostel on the fourth. Streetscaping work has been completed on three sides,while only a section of the perimeter wall has been concreted and painted pale yellow. Even though the street opposite to the main entrance is paved with sandstone,new lights do not seem to be coming up here.

By Hamari Jamatia,Maroosha Muzaffar,Mandakini Gahlot,Tanushree Roy Chowdhury,Deepu Sebastian Edmond