Diljit Dosanjh’s two-day concert in New Delhi has left the Jawarhal Nehru Stadium (JLN), the country's top training ground for athletes of various sports disciplines, in shambles. When athletes reached the venue on Monday morning, they were in shock by the state of the stadium and the training facilities. Beer bottles, piles of trash, food waste, plastic bags were littered everywhere, making it next to impossible to even breathe there, let alone train.

The track was closed for 10 days due to Diljit Dosanjh's musical event on October 26 and 27 and is expected to remain shut for a few more days as organizers work on the cleanup. As a result, several athletes preparing for the Junior National Championships and other local events have had to move to the less-maintained warm-up track outside the main stadium. They expressed that this has disrupted their training.

Hindustan Times had earlier reported that the organisers had damaged athletics equipment belonging to the trainees. A video with HT showed locks being broken and hurdles dumped in a corner. Worse still, when the trainees reached JLN Stadium—it is owned by Sports Authority of India—they were dejected at the sight of beer bottles, plastic, food, and trash littered all over by fans who attended Dosanjh’s Dil-Luminati tour.

“It was such a bad sight. We worship this place and see what they have done?” said sprinter Ajit, who is preparing for the junior nationals in Odisha, which was postponed last week due to Cyclone Dana. The All India Police Championships is also scheduled for next month.

“We tried cleaning up the place but it was not possible,” said the Delhi state and School Games Federation of India medallist.

Another Delhi sprinter Rahul Raj Mahato said it was difficult to train on the outside warm-up track as it is old and worn out. “You can see the base. There is a chance of injury. They (concert organisers) damaged our hurdles. Who will pay?”

Beant Singh, a Youth Asia 800m champion was seething. “We enter the stadium after taking a bow. This is the respect we have. We take care and clear debris. It is not meant to hold a party. How can elite athletes train here?”

The JLN Stadium was the focal point of the 1982 Asian Games and received renovations for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. However, it has lost its Class 1 status from World Athletics due to the improper re-laying of the synthetic track, which has developed a “depression.” While the Sports Authority of India (SAI) completed some minor repairs and reopened the venue for training, they have since de-notified it as a National Centre of Excellence.

SAI reported that approximately 70,000 people attended a recent concert held over two days. They expect the venue to be cleaned by the 29th, emphasizing that their contract with the event organizers mandates that the stadium be returned in the same condition it was given.

However, following the first day of the concert, it was noted that there were no bins available at the venue, leading many attendees to discard waste—like pizza boxes, water bottles, and empty beer bottles—on the track, which remained exposed. According to Meharpreet Kaur, 29, who attended the event, this was a significant oversight by the organizers.

SAI manages the stadium through a Public Private Partnership model to generate revenue from both sports and non-sports events. An official expressed concern, stating that the venue primarily accommodates private events, making it challenging to secure dates for state-level competitions.

In response to the criticism, SAI clarified that the concert was permitted because no training camps were scheduled at the time. They noted that the JLN Stadium primarily serves children in the Come and Play scheme and doesn't currently cater to elite, junior, or sub-junior athletes. However, coaches countered this, mentioning that athletes from regions like Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Bihar train there. Many outstation athletes rely on nearby rented accommodations, making the stadium vital for numerous elite, emerging, and para athletes.

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