KOLKATA: The biggest. The best. And now the bruised.
A venue which takes pride in being the jewel in the crown of Indian football became witness to a bedlam of extraordinary proportions when people stormed the Salt Lake stadium pitch and damaged large sections of the gallery during
Lionel Messi’s brief but eventful stay on Saturday.
Not being able to catch a glimpse of the Argentine icon, angry fans vent their anger by vandalising the country’s biggest football stadium and leaving scars in a place that had been thoroughly modernised for the Under-17 FIFA World Cup matches in 2017.
People uprooted chairs in the gallery and hurled on to the field along with water bottles. They broke the fencing gate at the edge of the field and stormed the pitch. Hundreds took control of the stadium, overturned tents that had been erected in the field and set fire to sofas that had been placed for VIPs.
People were seen tearing the net in a goal post, damaging the canopy that leads to the tunnel connecting the dressing rooms to the pitch.
The stadium had undergone a two-year renovation at a cost of Rs 126 crore eight years ago. The makeover had transformed the old concrete structure into a modern, fanfriendly venue with blue bucket seats, new floodlights, renovated washrooms, elevators, improved drainage, and a new press box, making it Fifa-compliant and suitable for hosting international football events.
Installation of the bucket seats had reduced the stadium's capacity from 1.2 lakh to around 66,500. According to preliminary estimates by the police, around 300 odd fibreglass seating and plastic chairs were either uprooted or broken.
Many fans broke the iron latch of the fencing with a brick. Initially, it was the No. 2 gallery. Gradually, the latches of the gates in the VIP, No. 4 and No. 5 galleries were broken.
The authorities are now investigating the incident, with cops specifically adding specific vandalism clauses, like West Bengal Maintenance of Public Property Act and Prevention of Damage to Public property Act..
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