Diljit Dosanjh concert: Athletes slam organisers for damaging JLN Stadium

Days after Punjabi rockstar Diljit Dosanjh’s concert, Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium saw garbage and alcohol bottles strewn all around. Athletes even complained about broken equipment apart from litter by crowd that included food and drinks.
Beant Singh, a Delhi-based middle distance runner, took to Instagram and posted a video of the stadium alleging that they would not be allowed to train in the facility for the next 10 days.
Singh in his video alleged the crowd destroyed the equipment used by young athletes during the event. In a video interview with India Today said that his complaint is not against Diljit Dosanjh, but the organisers who did not failed to manage the crowd and let them to litter the stadium.
“Indian athletes have been shown their level (aukat). Budding athletes practice here but people had alcohol, danced and partied at this place. Due to this, the stadium will remain closed for 10 days. The athletics equipment like the hurdles have been broken and thrown here and there,” India Today quoted Beant Singh as saying in the video.
Singh also said the incident shows disrespect towards athletes in the country.
“This is the situation of sport, sportspersons and stadiums in India. There will be geniuses who will point out once in four years that medals do not come in the Olympics. This is because there is no respect and support for sportspersons in this country,” he said.
As per the contract between Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Saregama India, the organisers has to hand over to SAI in ready condition by November 1.
For the concert, around 70,000 people attended in two days – October 26 and 27. The cleaning will take at least 24 hours and the stadium is expected to be cleaned up by October 29.
Diljit’s concert in Delhi garnered a mix of enthusiastic praise and criticism from attendees. Those who attended described it as “the best night of my life”, while some of them complained about the poor management and arrangements at the venue, including chaotic entry and exit procedures
Apart from this, complaints were raised related to ticketing issues as some fans alleged that the organisers engaged in scalping and malpractice which led to tickets becoming unavailable quickly and being resold at inflated prices.