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Journalism of Courage
It would never happen with our cricketers. Last year, this paper reported how India’s women hockey players had to carry their laundry from one stadium to another because of a water shortage. Now, the country’s top volleyball players and wrestlers have to shift their practice venue because the IG Indoor Stadium, where they’ve been practicing so long, has been closed on fire safety grounds — a year after officials were first alerted.
‘‘We certainly are in a fix’’, says volleyball coach Sunny Joseph.
Almost a year ago — on May 29, 2003 — the Delhi High Court, while hearing a petition, had directed that all high-rises in the city should have adequate fire safety measures. And were to be sealed in case of non-compliance.
The IG Stadium falls in the high-rise category because it is above the specified height and because the structure has different levels.
Delhi Chief Fire Officer RC Sharma said his office had written several letters to the Sports Authority of India, the stadium’s administrators, since December to avoid booking the stadium unless fire-fighting systems had been installed. Then followed it up with action in March. ‘‘When we saw that no steps had been taken, we issued orders to the Delhi Jal Board and to BSES to disconnect the water and electricity’’, Sharma told The Sunday Express.
That should have provoked SAI into some action.
Yet officials, ignoring the long-term work, managed to obtain power and water from ‘‘other sources’’ and kept the facility open to athletes.
However, it was obviously pinching somewhere and yesterday SAI approached the High Court seeking restoration of power and water connections. SAI counsel Anil Grover told The Sunday Express that only a certain portion of the stadium was a high-rise building.
The Court directed restoration of both electricity and water connections for repair purposes, with the stipulation that no sporting activity be carried on inside till installation of fire safety equipment — being carried out by the CPWD — is completed.
IG Stadium administrator Mukesh Kumar insists that they got to know about this just some months back. Ask him why SAI hadn’t acted in ‘‘some months’’ and he refuses to comment. The only thing he will say is that the repair work will take around ‘‘five to six months’’.
That trips lightly off an administrator’s tongue but sits hard on the sportsmen and women. The irony of the situation is that the Volleyball Federation of India had started yesterday a novel scheme to tap new talent (reported in Saturday’s edition of this paper). The scheme, which focused on height as the primary selection factor, will lose its momentum, say volleyball officials. The girls — training for the upcoming Asian Junior Championships — now have to practice at the Nehru Stadium. That means outdoor practice, with an increased risk of injury.
The camp may be shifted at Vizag but the summer rush means a long wait before they can make the journey down south. ‘‘Till then we will train at the outdoor courts at the Nehru Stadium but the girls can’t dive around,’’ he says.
The long closure means the stadium will be of no use to the athletes preparing for the Olympics. SAI director MP Ganesh, the man in charge of scheduling the camps and training, says that this ‘‘was something unfortunate and should be avoided’’. He also adds that they now will have shift the venues to either Patiala or Bangalore.
It is possible that, in Olympic year, somebody will take action against the officials responsible for the tardiness. But with all eyes on the elections, and most of those in charge contesting the polls, it seems that this will be buried under the files.
