62 days to CWG: Brand new stadium roof begins leaking

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In a major shock to the Commonwealth Games organising committee, a portion of the roof covering the weightlifting auditorium, which is part of the newly-remodelled Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium complex, came crashing down on Sunday even as top Games officials were briefing the media about its inauguration. Hours after the auditorium’s inauguration, red-faced CWG officials were forced to hand it back to the Central Public Works Department for urgent repairs.
Strangely, though, Union sports minister M.S. Gill, who was present at the inaugural function, insisted that the leaking of the roof and its collapse was “normal” and there was “nothing to worry about”. The minister said: “It happened due to the continuous rains.”
Senior Delhi government and CWG officials said the roof of the weightlifting auditorium started leaking after Saturday’s heavy showers, which had led to water accumulating inside it.
The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium is the main venue for the Commonwealth Games, and the venue for both the opening and closing ceremonies. The roof, on which the organising committee had spent Rs 90 crores, will now take one week more to be repaired, Games officials confirmed. The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) had recently drawn attention to suspected rampant corruption in the construction of sports stadia for the Games.
Union minister for urban development S. Jaipal Reddy, who heads the group of ministers overseeing Games preparations and was also present at Sunday’s weightlifting auditorium inauguration, promised that the government would seriously examine the allegations of corruption and take action on the CVC report, and that “anyone found guilty will not be spared”.
He said: “The CVC has made preliminary remarks. I assure you that nobody will be spared. We will seriously look into it.”
Organising committee sources said leaks were also reported on Sunday from a number of other venues, including the Yamuna Sports Complex in East Delhi, where table tennis events will be held; Siri Fort in South Delhi, venue of the badminton matches; and the Karni Singh shooting ranges.
Eyewitnesses at the 60,000-capacity Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium told this correspondent that the roof started leaking late on Saturday night and that the wooden floor got further damaged on Sunday morning.
Mr Jaipal Reddy, whose ministry oversees the CPWD, said workers on other Central government projects would be diverted to Games-related work if necessary to ensure that all the CWG infrastructure could be completed well ahead of the October 3-14 Games.