‘Only a few tiles came off at stadium, media sensationalised issue’
September 23rd, 2010 - 8:02 pm ICT by IANSNew Delhi, Sep 23 (IANS) A day after it was widely reported that the roof of the weightlifting arena at the showpiece Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Complex collapsed, it now transpires that only a few tiles weighing 70 gm each came off the false ceiling and which have now been fixed.
“We completed the work last night only. Two tiles of thermocol had come off, but the block was disturbed so we had to fix the surrounding tiles, in all nine,” CPWD superintending enginner Rajendra Kalla told IANS.
“These tiles are light-weight made of calcium silicate. They are acoustic tiles fitted to muffle the echo in the hall, as in all auditoriums. The tiles, measuring 2ft. x 2ft weigh 70 grams each.”
“The entire ceiling of the area is 18000 square feet whereas the disturbed block was 36 square feet. Someone stepped onto the tiles while carrying out maintenance work and the lightweight tiles could not bear the weight,” he said.
Kalla said he was surprised with the media coverage, with many going to town that the entire false ceiling had collapsed.
“I told the mediapersons that there was nothing to worry and nobody was hurt, but they still carried on sensationalising it.”
The electronic media went on harping that the entire roof “caved in”, knowing fully well it was not entirely true, he added.
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Tags: acoustic tiles, auditoriums, calcium silicate, cpwd, electronic media, gm, jawaharlal nehru, jawaharlal nehru stadium, maintenance work, media coverage, New Delhi, rajendra, showpiece, square feet