As the city revels and rebels amid the enormity of the projects under construction ahead of the Commonwealth Games next October, HAMARI JAMATIA rewinds to the early eighties. A time the Capital was engaged in a similar debate, then gearing up for the Asian Games in 1982. Newsline remembers how and what made the Asian Games special

Infrastructure
Tents set up on open fields hosted some of the competitions when the first Asian Games were held in Delhi in 1951. The biggest stadium then was Dhyan Chand National Stadium for hockey — it also had a swimming pool.

But by the time the ninth Asiad came calling — between November 19 and December 4, 1982 — the government decided to create a “strong base for sports” to showcase Delhi to visitors from abroad.

The decision taken in 1980, Delhi was ready with two big stadiums, seven flyovers and a Games village with 4,200 rooms in just two years. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) built all the major venues and received appreciation as well as criticism.

Tourist hotspot
With thousands of visitors expected for the Asiad, many new hotels were also built. While a figure of all new hotels built then is not available, the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) built seven new hotels, Samrat Hotel being one of the biggest.

The other hotels built by ITDC were Kanishka, Ashok Yatri Niwas, Akbar Hotel, Lodhi Hotel, Hotel Ranjit and Qutab Hotel.

To make the city more attractive for tourists, roads were widened, monuments were cleaned up, and 200 microbuses were procured.

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