All venues of the Commonwealth Games have been taken over by security agencies except for the main venue of Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium which missed the deadline for the fifth time due to ongoing work.
Exasperated with the slow pace, Union home minister P
Chidambaram had on September 23 issued a stern warning to
organisers to complete the work at stadiums and handover it to
Delhi Police, the nodal security agency for the Games, for
lockdown at Friday midnight.
Sources said a complete security lockdown of Jawaharlal Nehru stadium could not be put in place at Friday midnight as finishing works could not be completed. All other venues are now under a complete lockdown and only with authorised cards can one get access to the venues.
"The work is on at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and some other venues. In many venues, we have imposed the lockdown. We
expect to take over the remaining venues by evening," a senior
official said.
This is the fifth time that Delhi police has failed to enforce the security lockdown of the facility due to ongoing work.
The first deadline was September three and it was subsequently extended to September 15, September 20, September 22 and September 24.
Senior police officials did not respond to queries on whether the lockdown was enforced in Jawaharlal Nehru stadium.
Sources had earlier said the security personnel are facing difficulties while guarding the Commonwealth Games village and other venues due to frequent movement of labourers who were engaged for different unfinished tasks.
Ideally, they said, a complete security lockdown should be put in place a month before the event was to commence.
However, they said, security was in full force and there was no need to worry.
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.
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 last Sunday's firing incident at Jama Masjid in which two Taiwanese nationals were injured.
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.
