An Eden Gardens gallery in the process of being demolished in October 2009

Yesterday

Gallery: The lower tiers of blocks B, C, K and L, with a combined seating capacity of 38,923, were being demolished when India took on Sri Lanka on December 24 last year. This brought down the capacity of the ground to 48,038, including the 3,326 seats in the Club House.

Tickets: Tickets were issued to annual members, associate members and life members of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) but not to the general public.

Lights: There was a floodlight fiasco towards the end of the first innings. Lights on one tower went out and didn’t come back on for 26 minutes.

Today

Pillars are being built to support the new galleries, which would have only bucket seats. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

Gallery: Both tiers of the four blocks have been demolished. From January 1, the Mumbai-based Shapoorji Pallonji & Co Ltd started construction of the galleries, where bucket seats would replace concrete ones. Ahmedabad firm VMS Engineering and Design has chalked out the blueprint along with the US-based Burt Hill Design Pvt Ltd. “All four blocks will have two-and-a-half tiers, the middle one being the ‘snazzy suite level’,” said an engineer.

Tickets: Seating capacity has not increased since the ODI but tickets are being sold to the public on a first-come-first-served basis till Wednesday for the match starting on February 14. “About 10,000 tickets, priced at Rs 750 and Rs 1,500, are available for the general public,” said an official of the CAB, headed by Jagmohan Dalmiya.

Lights: Floodlights will not be needed.

An artist’s impression of the stadium after renovation. Seats in two blocks (circled in red) will remain concrete even during the 2011 World Cup

Tomorrow

Gallery: The construction of the galleries will be completed and the bucket seats in yellow and blue will be installed in them.

According to a CAB official, there will be no time to install bucket seats in blocks D and E (18,346 seats). “The concrete patch would probably be an eyesore. We had to host international matches out of turn and so had to prune gallery modernisation,” said Bishwarup Dey, the joint secretary of the CAB.

Tickets: The seating capacity is expected to go up to 82,000 by the time the World Cup starts. The capacity of Eden Gardens was 86,961 before the renovations started.

Lights: “A committee comprising a professor each from IIT Kharagpur, Bengal Engineering and Science University and Jadavpur University is examining the floodlights. They will submit their recommendations within a month. We will do as they say to prevent blackouts,” said Dey.

Other facilities coming up before the World Cup are a multi-gym, a dormitory for players, modern dressing rooms and food courts. Two giant TV screens will also be put up.