Delhi seems to be all revved up for the Commonwealth Games 2010, and its not surprising to note that Delhi University is not far behind in the race. However ,not many are aware that DU is going to be one of the many venues for the upcoming Games in 2010.
Certain areas of the North Campus have been selected as venues for Aquatics and the Rugby 7’s events. Colleges including SRCC, Daulat Ram College, Ramjas College and Kirori Mal College have been undergoing extensive digging and are in the process of building a new sports complex.
The Games’ organising committee has identified the playgrounds at St Stephen’s, Hindu, Ramjas, SRCC and Daulat Ram as venues for holding rugby matches. The varsity is also planning to set up an advanced Aquatics complex and a coaching centre, to groom the budding talents, keeping in minds the CWG standards. The colleges would also provide training facilities for badminton and shooting. A total area of 10000 square meters has been earmarked for this, while a whopping Rs 250 crores is being spent entirely on construction and infrastructure. Many parts of the University, particularly North Campus, has seen tremendous overhaul, repair and renewal in the past one year in order to construct the stadium for hosting the Rugby 7’s event.
At least 200 trees have been felled or transplanted and at least 150 more are under threat. “150 year old trees can never be successfully transplanted”, says Suraj Yadav, Lecturer, Shraddhanand College. Not just are the Games affecting the ecological milieu of the Campus, but a lot of sporting enthusiasm seems to be biting the dust in this case. Arvind Shankar, Treasurer of the College Council, SRCC says,” I played as much badminton as I could in my first and second year, because I knew that the badminton court would be no more in by the time I graduate from college. A large area of the field has been dug up for these Games, and is still in the process of being dug up. The sports complex is almost off limits to students now, which is obviously not something that we are very happy about.”
On the other hand, some students are pleased with this step and they completely support it. As the football field at St.Stephen’s College is being dug-up to turn it into a ground that adheres to international standards, Ahetesham Khan, captain of St.Stephen’s Soccer team, is quite happy with this make-over of his college. He says, “ It is only a matter of one year, once the CWG are over, the field will be given back to the college. The refurbished football field would be of a much higher standard and the students would be able to make use of the excellent facilities.”
Thus, the picture is not all that grim. There are bound to be a lot of positive ramifications too when DU is hosting an event of such a large scale. The Delhi University Sports Complex will be well connected to the Games Village as well as to places of places of attraction of Delhi, by road and metro rail. In fact, the DMRC is planning a special action plan to link the Complex with other Games venues and tourist attractions.
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