How sport changes cityscape

But by the time the ninth Asiad came calling — between November 19 and December 4,1982 — the government decided to create a “strong base for sports” to showcase Delhi to visitors from abroad.

The decision taken in 1980,Delhi was ready with two big stadiums,seven flyovers and a Games village with 4,200 rooms in just two years. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) built all the major venues and received appreciation as well as criticism.

Tourist hotspot
With thousands of visitors expected for the Asiad,many new hotels were also built. While a figure of all new hotels built then is not available,the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) built seven new hotels,Samrat Hotel being one of the biggest.

The other hotels built by ITDC were Kanishka,Ashok Yatri Niwas,Akbar Hotel,Lodhi Hotel,Hotel Ranjit and Qutab Hotel.

To make the city more attractive for tourists,roads were widened,monuments were cleaned up,and 200 microbuses were procured.

Political players
While Buta Singh,then the sports minister and also chairman of the Asian Games Special Organising Committee,was already well known by the time the Asiad came calling,some of the other political leaders at the helm of affairs then grew in stature after the successful Games. Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar,then young MPs,headed some of the 27 committees formed at the time. Kumar was with the civic amenities committee,while Tytler headed the transport arrangement committee.

Amarendra Singh and the late Madhavrao Scindia also held important positions. Rajiv Gandhi used to meet the committees and advice them frequently.

Being the sports minister,Buta Singh faced a lot of criticism before and after the ’82 Asiad. At that time it was widely held that most sports events’ tickets were being sold at 220 times its value.

Media reports said tickets of Rs 10 and Rs 100 denominations were being sold for Rs 80 and Rs 2,200,respectively.

‘Architectural wonders’
Both stadiums built for the Games — Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and Talkatora Stadium — were seen as architectural wonders. “A floating bowl is a new concept,” as M K Rishi from the CPWD,architect of Nehru Stadium,put it while describing his masterpiece.

He had never been abroad,so there was no question of any ‘inspiration’. When the media asked him how he built a structure of such scale,Rishi said he visited the place allocated for the stadium many times. “Each time I went,I would think from the point of view of the player,the viewer,the media and the caretaker. It shaped my design,” he had replied.

Both stadiums were called “marvelous” “splendid” and “wonderful” by many noted writers and architects of the time.

Asiad village
Noted writer Manmohan Dayal said: “There were widespread criticisms about a land of fakir and snake charmers spending crores for the Games — we have to demolish the myth.”

As a ‘myth-breaker’,he cited the Asiad Village — the grandest and biggest infrastructure project Delhi had seen in recent times. It had 4,200 rooms,a tower with a restaurant,a cultural centre,and a mini hospital,a dining hall with a capacity of 20,000 people (there were four halls to accommodate 4,500 people),and a coffee shop.

Head chef Simon Fernandes whipped up the gastronomic delight with his army of 141 chefs who ran the kitchen.

Even if many considered the seven flyovers a waste of public money,the Games Village received more appreciation than distrust. The DDA in its advertisement called it “an architectural beauty that can be compared favorably with the games villages in the last three Olympics at Munich,Montreal and Moscow”.

Colour televisions
When it was decided that the Asiad would be held in the country,the government also had to find a way to make it widely accessible. Television was at its nascent stage then but the government decided to improve the system and introduce colour TV sets in the country.

It began running three-page ads in national dailies,calling it a medium to spread education and knowledge and a means to give impetus to the economy.

Boon or bane? The debate
The academia and experts spent a lot of time contemplating whether the infrastructure expansion was a boon or a bane. Some did not favour a poor country hosting a sporting event of such magnitude,arguing that critical funds that could have gone in poverty alleviation were ‘wasted’.

Noted writer Romesh Thapar called the infrastructure expansion a “criminal waste in which sight of essential priorities have been lost”.

On the other hand,Bhagwan Sahay,former chairman of the Delhi Urban Art Commission,said,“These things are essential”. He recalled the Lutyen’s Delhi as a “museum piece of the former rule. I don’t favour preservation of such a museum.”

Use of animals
Apu,a baby elephant from Arunachal Pradesh,was the 1982 Asiad mascot. All very cute,till the time the media reported how brutal its training regimen was.

The other major embarrassment was the procurement of 34 elephants from Trichur,Kerala. The animals were brought in an open train with small bamboo enclosures. The journey lasted three or four days where the giants had to stay in enclosures with little space to move. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals took up the issue and protested.

Games Trivia
* Tickets were sold at 129 centres in 91 towns through the SBI and in 35 countries through Air India and Indian Airlines.
* China won the first gold medal in the Games in weightlifting. Also,it won the largest number of gold medals beating the all time winner Japan.
* 4,595 athletes from 33 countries competed in 1982 Asiad.
* Debut sports were equestrian,golf,handball,rowing and women’s field hockey.
* Park and ride facility were introduced for the first time in Delhi.