Glitch in RF Ticket Readers: Many Denied Entry in the Stadium

You may have a ticket for your favorite Commonwealth sports event, but this doesn’t necessarily mean your entry to the stadium will be hassle-free. After several spectators complained that they faced problems while entering the stadium as the radio frequency ticket-readers failed to recognize the tickets Delhi Police conducted an internal inquiry which has detected a major problem in the central system set up by ECIL.

While some ticket-holders were turned away as their names could not be found in the system, many others whose names were displayed on the system who had accreditation were forced to go back as their pictures were not uploaded on the system.

ECIL officers, however, said these were only minor glitches which were promptly taken care of by their engineers. ‘‘We will sort out all the problems in the next couple of days. There are multiple agencies involved and it is a matter of time before all systems get perfectly integrated,’’ said an officer.

According to cops, these glitches were a result of the frequent failure of the LAN network connecting all the machines to the venue server and the WAN network connecting the central ECIL server with the venue servers. Networking professionals attribute the problem to ‘‘unstable and insufficient bandwidth’’ that is causing the WAN network to snap. Due to the same, photographs from the central server are not getting uploaded on venue servers.

Cops point out that the company never went for a ‘‘stabilization’’ process or trial run of the setup. ‘‘In any technical setup, there are always some teething troubles. So, a test run is important to identify the problems and come up with solutions before the actual process starts,’’ explained a senior police official, who did not wish to be named.

What complicates matters is that the installation of the system was worked out by multiple agencies for wiring, placing the switches and supplying power. This seems to have resulted in problems in integration, claimed the official. Cops now want the company to upload photos of spectators from its central server to the venue servers and then download the entire data on the laptop to ensure availability of updated data on individual venue servers.

ECIL, meanwhile, blamed Delhi Police for the hitches, claiming the data came late because of which uploading all of it in time became difficult. The cops denied this saying all the data had been first given to the company by the organizing committee on CDs. ‘‘We only got the updated data,’’ said a Delhi police officer.

After Poor Games Show Now Tourists have no Interest in CWG

It’s not just the Queen of England uninterested in coming to Delhi for the Commonwealth Games. Ticket sales by the Commonwealth Games Associations (CGA) show that even spectators from Commonwealth countries are not buying tickets for the Delhi Games 2010. As per sales figures, only 16,000 tickets have been sold so far by the 70 CGAs in-charge of selling the tickets in their respective countries. Interestingly, the Jamaican CGA, headed by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) president Michael Fennell, has not been able to sell a single ticket till date.

As per an agreement with the CGF, the organizing committee (OC) of the Delhi Games 2010 has booked 10 per cent of the total ticket allocation for the CGAs, making around 1.7 lakh tickets available to them. Of these, 78,000 are for the spectators. However, only 16,000 tickets, worth around Rs 4 crore, have been sold till now by the CGAs, say sources. What makes the sales figures even more alarming are the fact that CGAs have time till September 5 to sell these tickets, after which, they would revert to the OC. However, with sales being so slow, sources admitted that the chances of more tickets being sold in Commonwealth countries are negligible. Said a source, ‘‘The feedback has been extremely dismal. Till now, at least 50% of the tickets should have been sold.’’

The reasons for the slow sales are varied, said OC sources. From the negative buzz surrounding the Delhi Games 2010 to the lack of appeal of India as a sporting destination, all have been trotted forward to explain the phenomenon of no foreign sales. Officials say while India may have an attraction as an exotic destination, the concept of Delhi as a sports haven hasn’t exactly caught on abroad. The fact that many of these Commonwealth countries also have a small population has also been suggested as a reason. Said an official, ‘‘Some of these countries have a really small population, so expecting a large spectator turnout from these countries is not realistic.’’

Thankfully for the OC, ticket sales in the country have picked up meanwhile. Sources said 79,000 tickets have been sold maximum for the ceremonies. While the opening ceremony has sold over 10,000 tickets, the number is slightly over 5,000 for the closing ceremony. Interestingly, around 117 tickets costing Rs 50,000 each have been sold till now, while 203 tickets of Rs 25,000 each have been taken off the shelf.


As per agreement with the Commonwealth Games Federation, 10% of the tickets have to be given to CWG Associations for sale in Commonwealth countries With the organizing committee (OC) planning to sell 17 lakh tickets, around 1.7 lakh tickets were given to CGAs After deducting sponsors and other tickets for distribution by CGAs, 78,000 tickets for spectators to be sold by CGAs Ticket sales by CGAs till date 16,000 Total sales in India (till Sunday) 78,900 Opening ceremony 10,350 Closing ceremony 5,750 Rs 50,000 (category A) tickets sold 117 Rs 25,000 (category B) tickets sold 203 Rs 5,000 (category C) tickets sold 3,500 Rs 1,000 (category D) tickets sold 5,900 Most tickets sold for hockey 16,000 Least tickets sold for lawn bowl 555

OC Kept its Honor By Delaying Games Ticket Sales

Last Friday, the Organizing Committee of the Commonwealth Games had announced with great fanfare that over-the-counter ticket sales to the public would begin on August 25. And so, Pushpender Sharma, a student and an athlete, reached OC headquarters at 9am sharp to buy a ticket. Nine hours later, he still hadn’t got one.

‘‘Officials at the OC headquarters sent me to the Central Bank, Parliament Street branch. The tickets were not available there either. They told me to come back at 3pm, then I was told to return at six. This is no way to treat people who wish to be a part of the CWG,’’ fumed Sharma. He wasn’t the only one complaining.

Officials at various outlets of Central Bank of India and Hero Honda the OC’s official ticketing partners admitted that many customers turned up in the morning, but had to go back disappointed. Said B S Harilal, assistant general manager at Central Bank of India (Parliament Street), ‘‘We kept sending people back through the day. More than 100 people turned up at our branch. We had to inform them that tickets were not available and they would have to return at 3pm. Finally, at 7 pm, we were able to sell tickets.’’

The scene was repeated across almost all the outlets designated by the OC for ticket sale.

OC cites tech snag for mess

The much-publicized sale of tickets for the Commonwealth Games was bit of a dampener with most of the designated counters turning away buyers as they were yet to receive the tickets. In fact, the Central Bank outlet in the organizing committee headquarters was summarily sending every customer to the Parliament Street branch without any explanation. B S Harilal, assistant general manager at Central Bank of India (Parliament Street) said they kept sending people back through the day. More than 100 people turned up at our branch, he said.

Yet again, it was the organizing committee the gang that can’t shoot straight to blame. It was still synchronizing the online ticket purchases that had been made till date with the stock of tickets available.
Said a senior organizing committee official, ‘‘Since the opening and closing ceremony tickets are numbered seats, synchronization of tickets that have already been purchased with the available stock is necessary. Besides, a lot of other back-end programming had to be performed, which is why tickets were not available till 6 pm.’’

So why was the organizing committee still performing ‘backend programming’ on the day the sale of tickets was to begin? No one in the organizing committee had a clue. Secretary General Lalit Bhanot brushed off the matter, saying the system was under maintenance and that tickets were ‘‘now available’’.

‘‘The tickets were made available as soon as the system was updated. There’s no problem,’’ insisted Bhanot. Sanjeev Mittal, head of the ticketing function, added that ticket stocks had been sent to outlets already.

Ironically, the sale of tickets till date is not exactly in numbers that should have taken any decent system much time to update.

Of the 17 lakh tickets that organizing committee hopes to sell for the upcoming sporting event, a little above 1 lakh have been sold till date. Sources admitted that the ceremonies for which 50,000 tickets are each available have actually managed to sell around 12,000 tickets: in total.

Ticket sales of the sporting events are even more dismal. The only sport that has managed to get spectators is hockey, for which a mere 8,000 tickets have been sold. The rest haven’t even managed to generate more than 5,000 ticket sales each, added sources.

Games Ticket Sales Begin: Rs 1,000 & Rs 750 tickets for Games all sold out

If you’ve been thinking of buying a ticket to watch the opening or closing ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games in October, better act fast. Not even a week after sale of tickets began; officials say the Rs 1,000 and Rs 750 tickets have all been sold out. Interestingly, even the Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000 tickets are seeing brisk sale, say sources, with the opening ceremony seeing the maximum demand.

Said a senior OC official, ‘‘Since day one, the sales have been quite satisfactory. The first day itself saw sales of over Rs 20 lakh.’’ Till date, the OC has registered sales worth Rs 2 crore within four days. It’s not just the desi crowd interested in the mega sporting event. OC sources claim the tickets have been in demand abroad as well, especially in the Commonwealth association circuit.

These tickets, which were made available in November, last year, were handed over to the Commonwealth Games Associations (CGAs) of the participating countries for sale by the respective CGAs. OC officials say that ticket sales worth Rs 3 crore have been generated from these sales. ‘‘These tickets will be exchanged for actual physical tickets once they come to India,’’ added the official. For international tourists though, the tickets are available from the OC website launched for ticket sale earlier this week. Said the official, ‘‘While several purchases through international credit cards have been made, it’s too early to say how many have been purchased by foreign nationals.’’ Sources admitted the demand at present though, is for the opening and closing ceremonies, with few tickets being sold for the sporting events. Tickets for these are available as well, and start from Rs 50 onwards to Rs 1,000. Almost 40% of the tickets for the sporting events have been kept at Rs 200 and below. Four of the events the marathon, the walk, cycling road race and the cycling time trial are free. For those booking online, an upper sale limit of two tickets has been kept for the opening and closing ceremonies while for the sporting event, the limit is four.

The OC is making these tickets available only through its website at present, and a few retail counters of the Central Bank of India and Hero Honda outlets. Ticket sales from counters start from August 1, when actual tickets will be given out instead of vouchers, as is the case at present.

Where to Buy Tickets:

Online at : www.tickets.cwgdelhi2010.org

Ticketing Call Center: Call 1800-200-1294

IRCTC’s Website and Outlets

Games Ticket to be Available from 1 June, Cheapest will be priced at Rs 50

All the venues may still not be ready but the organizing committee (OC) is gearing up to sell tickets for the Commonwealth Games from June 1. The cheapest ticket will be priced at Rs 50.

‘‘Around 1.7 million tickets will be sold for the Games starting from October 3. These tickets will initially be available only from a dedicated call centre, the Commonwealth Games 2010 website and a few select outlets,’’ OC chairman Suresh Kalmadi said on Thursday.

However, the OC is also planning to make the tickets available in more than 50 outlets of Central Bank and Hero Honda within 10-15 days of the launch of ticket sale.

For those hoping to catch the action live at the stadia, the low pricing of tickets is an added incentive. “These tickets will be available till the start of each event,” Kalmadi said.

OC officials refused to reveal the different price slabs for the remaining tickets. However, sources said they would be available in four slabs, with options for group bookings. The ticket prices would also be different for the various sporting events, with the opening and closing ceremonies at a separate price slab altogether.

OC sources said the maximum demand is expected to be for the opening and closing ceremonies.

After announcing that tickets for the Commonwealth Games will be available from June 1, officials said that tickets for opening and closing ceremony will be most expensive. Both ceremonies will take place at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, which has a seating capacity of 64,000 spectators.

Kalmadi admitted that the OC was trying to ensure that tickets in the lower price range would be easily available, as demand was expected in this category. ‘‘Availability will be the prime concern, as we expect demand to go up once the Queen’s Baton Relay goes through the country, and more people get to know about the Commonwealth Games,’’ added Kalmadi. Ticket sales, though, are primarily expected to be through the call centre set up specifically for the purpose. The tickets bought online by spectators would be changed to physical tickets at the venue before the event. At present, the OC is expecting around 1 lakh inter national tourists. The number of domestic tourists is expected to also go up in October for the Commonwealth Games, say OC officials.