By now
it is unnecessary to either praise the clockwork precision of the glittering ceremony at
Jawaharlal Nehru stadium or deplore the denial of admission to genuine ticket holders which led to
avoidable bitterness and bad blood. Enough on Asian Games is being
printed, broadcast, telecast or disseminated by word of mouth to need supplementing. Only a few
sidelights may therefore be mentioned.
First the much-maligned police, especially those manning
south Delhi, have done an excellent job. It is no exaggeration that in some ways the main credit
for creating order out of chaos at Nehru stadium must go to the South Delhi police officers who
have spent many sleepless nights worrying about security at the Asian Village complex and at the
massive stadium named after Panditji.
No wonder top police officers expressed their gratitude
by flashing a wireless message soon
 |
after
the inaugural ceremony thanking all the officers and specially Mr Ajai Aggarwal the bewhiskered
deputy commissioner of police, South district.
Apparently stung by the reports of force used by the
policemen to prevent the several hundred ticket holders from forming their way into the stadium
while the opening ceremony was underway, Mr Aggarwal spent almost half an hour excitedly
explaining to us why it was necessary to close the gates. But that we are afraid is neither here
nor there.
Meanwhile Mrs Kiran Bedi must be complimented for
mobilizing the teenagers to help the traffic cops maintaining some kind of order in the Capital's
chaotic traffic. For those boys and girls, clad in blue and white and sporting Asiad 82 Cuban
caps, have managed to put the fear of God even among hardened road hogs whom they address as
‘Uncle’. |
