Mad scramble to finish work at Jawaharlal Nehru stadium; no lockdown yet

Just a week to go, authorities are in a mad scramble to give finishing touches to Jawaharlal Nehru stadium -- the main venue of the Commonwealth Games --and hand it over to police for a complete security lockdown.

The authorities have missed at least five deadlines for handing over the stadium to Delhi Police, the nodal security agency for the Games, the first being September three which is exactly a month before the event commences.

"The work is on. We are yet to get full control of the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium. We now hope to get the stadium on Sunday midnight. But there is nothing to worry as the security apparutus is well in place," a senior police official said.

Authorities have blamed heavy rains that lashed the capital in the past two months for the delay in completing the works.

Union home minister P Chidambaram had on September 23 issued a stern warning to organisers to complete the work at stadiums by Friday night and hand them over to Delhi Police, the nodal security agency for the Games, for lockdown at midnight.

While the first deadline was September three, it was subsequently extended to September 15, September 20, September 22 and September 24. Ideally, a complete security lockdown should have been put in place a month before the event was to begin.

The Games Village has become operational without a complete lockdown as athletes have started arriving, the official said, adding they have, however, sanitised the area before the delegates came.

"We have taken control of tower by tower. Some work is still on at the Games village also. The towers were the work was over were taken over," the official said adding they hope to take full control of the Village by tomorrow morning.

A large number of armed policemen, including paramilitary personnel, have been deployed across the stadia and village. Sophisticated gadgets have also been installed at the stadia.

Security has been stepped up across the city after Sunday's firing incident at Jama Masjid that injured two Taiwanese nationals.

Delhi Police have conducted various drills, including anti-sabotage checks once they take over possession of the venues, the official said.

Concerns were earlier raised about the delay in handing over venues to security agencies as some quarters felt that it would hamper the security preparations.

Heli-borne snipers, four-layered security cordon around Commonwealth Games venues and exclusive lanes for Games vehicles were among the components of the mammoth security plan for the event.

The security plan prepared for the event, which will see participation of around 8,500 athletes from 71 countries competing in 17 events, also envisages snipers on rooftops, commando hit teams and expert groups to tackle any chemical, biological, radio-active or nuclear attacks.