Tribune News Service
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Hooper chided
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Sheila Dikshit
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The Delhi Chief Minister criticised CWG Federation CEO Mike Hooper for his reported comments in which he blamed city’s massive population for traffic problems. She said it was “unkind and undiplomatic” However, the Federation president Michael Fennell stood by Hooper and said the comments were incorrectly attributed to him.
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New Delhi, September 27
Some weeks back Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had said that the city needed the blessings of Indra Devta, the mythological rain god, if Commonwealth Games projects were to be completed on time. As the sun continued to shine brightly on Delhi for the third consecutive day, Dikshit said after visiting the Games Village that the conditions in the Village “are improving by the hour” and if the sunny weather remains, which is the forecast, then everything would be fine sooner than latter.
A cautious Dikshit, who is now the person in charge of Games Village affairs after Organising Committee president Suresh Kalmadi was virtually sidelined from executive responsibilities, refused to put any deadline, many of which came and went, but expressed hope it would be in good shape very soon.
Government sources said the all concerns of the guests regarding the Village would be taken care of by Wednesday. Close to 3600 rooms out of a total of 4168 were in good conditions and all would be fixed in 48 hours, an official said.
Pakistani High Commissioner Shahid Malik told a few media personnel that some improvements were still needed and he had brought it to the notice of the authorities. The consensus among the visiting delegations was on the same line that things were better but still needed improvement as many teams moved in today.
Dikshit admitted that Delhi Development Authority, which built the village and reports to capital’s lieutenant-governor Tejendra Khanna, did not do its job properly as it was seeping at some places and incessant rains had caused much water to collect at several spots, one of the major concerns for foreign delegations because of prevalence of dengue in the city.
If the chief minister was cautious, there were no such niceties for Kalmadi who insisted that “there would not be any complaints now”. He said “there has not been any Games Village like this” even as visiting delegations said a lot was still left to be done.
He washed his hands of any responsibility for the filth in the Village and said cleaning it was not his responsibility. He said he was handed over the charge of the Village and other venues quite late which had resulted in the present mess.
Meanwhile, Dikshit also criticised CWG Federation CEO Mike Hooper for his reported comments in which he blamed city’s massive population for traffic problems. She said it was “unkind and undiplomatic”. However, the Federation president Michael Fennell stood by Hooper and said the comments were incorrectly attributed to him.
President, Prince Charles to open Games
New Delhi/London: In a compromise over the contentious issue of inauguration of Commonwealth Games on Sunday, Prince Charles will declare the Games open while President will say 'let the Games begin'.Sources today said this compromise had been worked out after arguments between Delhi and London over who would do the honours in the absence of Queen Elizabeth who had decided to skip the Games and send Charles.
The Indian side was keen that Patil should inaugurate since she ranked higher in protocol to the Prince. While the Indians were insisting on the President, the office of the Prince said he would read Queen’s message and end it by "declaring the Games open".
— PTI
