“It was an absolute miracle achieved in flat seven months,” is how A.P.M. Mohammed Hanish, the State government’s nodal officer for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup, described the organisation of the global event in the city.
Mr. Hanish, who was appointed nodal officer on July 1, 2014, found coordination and energising the entire machinery into action as the biggest challenges.
He was candid enough to admit that during the course of task force meetings all through 2015 and 2016, he could largely share with the FIFA delegations mere promises and pleasantries. “At that time many weren’t even aware of the significance of the event, and they had to be convinced about it,” Mr. Hanish told The Hindu .
The agreement for the handover of training grounds had not reached anywhere during 2015, and it was only last year that at least the green turf could be laid at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium. Then came the Indian Super League, and all work had to be suspended.
In fact, things started to move on only by the middle of February this year. For Mr. Hanish, it was initially a solitary work banking solely on the title of a nodal officer but with no facilities or staff.
“By March-April, it was almost as if the tournament has gone out of our hands. It was then the Chief Minister intervened and started daily monitoring of meetings. That hastened the preparatory work and before May 31, we could make FIFA declare Kochi officially as a venue. The large volume of pending work was then completed in the remaining four months,” he said.
“The lack of experience in organising an event of this scale was a hurdle, so was the absence of professionalism such an event demands. Many of our officers were in a lethargic mood for a long time,” Mr. Hanish said.
‘Learning experience’
It was a Herculean task to coordinate various agencies, though GCDA rose to the occasion.
The Kochi Corporation was slow off the blocks but turned active later. “It was a great learning experience, and we will be able to conduct any FIFA event successfully in the future,” the officer said.
On limiting the number of spectators to 29,000, he said it was because entry had to be banned to the third tier for security reasons and as part of an evacuation plan to deal with emergency situations.
