Seats still empty,spectators still wait outside

Even at the SP Mukherjee Aquatics complex,the stands were largely empty during the afternoon event with spectators coming during the evening hours for diving. Many,however,complained that despite a large number of seats with a better view being empty,volunteers were rigid with the seating arrangement.

“Despite booking the tickets quite early,we got tickets in the rear. But when we came for the event,some of the front seats were vacant and we asked the volunteers if we could sit there,but they declined. If those seats were vacant why couldn’t they be made available online or at least during the event when no one else is occupying them,” asked Amit Singh,who had come in with his family.

According to sources,60 per cent of the revenue tickets were reserved by the Organising Committee for foreign tourists and spectators and the foreign media while the remaining 40 percent were given out to the Central Bank of India,Hero Honda and IRCTC. However,due to a poor turnout of foreigners,the tickets remained unused. Around 22 lakh tickets were printed in total,out of which five lakh were reserved for VIPs as non-revenue passes and the remaining for general sales. Around Rs 100 crore was spent on printing tickets the alone.