On one hand, a majority of seats at various Commonwealth Games stadia are lying vacant. On the other, people are not getting tickets through the internet, at the CWG headquarters or at kiosks. Why are there empty stadia even though people are hankering for tickets?
Large-scale hoarding seems to be the reason behind the mystery of the “disappearing tickets”. An estimated 17 lakh Games tickets are said to be up for sale. And if organising committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi is to be believed, “ticket sales are surging”. He said as many as 1.25 lakh tickets were sold on Wednesday. So why are the stadia empty and why are people returning empty-handed from from the counters?
While OC vice-chairman Randhir Singh said the mismatch between the number of tickets being sold and spectators was a mystery, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit told newspersons she was looking into the matter. Congress MP and OC member Naveen Jindal also pitched in and promised to find the truth.
And, it’s not just the common man who’s not getting access to Games venues where medals are being won. Hundreds of government officials have not been able to attend events because of the lack of tickets. Inquiries by DNA revealed that tickets are being hoarded. On the evening of October 6, the sports ministry received a box of tickets from the OC, most of which were for events that had already taken place that morning.
The organising committee is the nodal agency for the distribution of tickets. “People close to the organisers have had a free hand in distributing tickets,” a source said. “The sports ministry got tickets for non-prime events. We got nothing for boxing, badminton, lawn tennis, cycling, and important hockey matches,” a source told DNA.
Before the Games, a chunk of tickets had been kept for bureaucrats and VIPs, but most of it was not unused. However, when common people failed to buy tickets from banks and stadia, all hell broke loose. What’s worse, it will be tough to release the hoarded tickets now. “Some of these tickets may not be security cleared, therefore they cannot be released in the market,” an official said on condition of anonymity.
