Commonwealth Games
Not on track

With preparations for the Commonwealth Games 2010 in Delhi running so much behind schedule, there is a risk of India’s showpiece games turning into a non-event. K. Datta takes a look

India may miss its Commonwealth 2010 date with destiny if a recent report by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG) is to be believed. The report presents a grim picture about the preparations for the next year’s games in Delhi.

The CAG report can only deepen the worry of Union Minister of Sports MS Gill, who has already admitted that with only 13 months left before the start of the Commonwealth Games (CWG), the delays were a "cause for concern". "I am willing to accept that a lot of work has been done but it is also visible to me that a lot of work remains," he said after a visit to the Karni Singh shooting range recently. But he hoped that "the job will be done on time, though it is not easy."

Except for the cycling velodrome and the shooting range, all venues should be ready by December this year, hoped the minister.

But the situation is indeed far more worrying than feared by the minister. It was not for nothing that the CAG had asked for a quick audit of the preparations of the Rs 10,000-crore mega event. It had taken exception to the abandoning of projects, extended deadlines, poor planning and mismanagement among other issues.

An example cited was the elevated east-west corridor from east Delhi to Connaught Place for connecting the games village to Indira Gandhi stadium velodrome and Yamuna Sports Complex. The CAG’s worry about how thousands of athletes, officials, volunteers and others would be transported from the games village to the various games venues is also shared by lakhs of commuters who routinely get stuck in the Capital’s notorious traffic snarls.

But this is just one cause of concern. A quick assessment has revealed that at least a dozen of the 19 competition sites were in danger of missing the December deadline, and all 16 major infrastructure projects were facing delays, some of them by as much as 55 to 95
per cent.

In a word, the situation is alarming. Chief Minister Sheila Dixit, who dreams of making her beloved Delhi a modern world-class city, instead of increasing the pace of work has come up with a novel shortcut. Since she can’t wish away its ugly slums, they will be concealed behind bamboo screens.

At the rate at which the work on CWG projects is going on there is a danger of the host city cutting a
sorry figure.

Multiplicity of authority in the Capital is an obstacle that has defied solution for a long time. Disagreements between officials of the state government, the Municipal Corporation, the Delhi Development Authority, the Central Public Works Department, the Delhi Urban Arts Commission, to name just a few, often cause delays in finalising and implementing plans.

To recover the lost time, Gill and Dixit are working overtime to get the co-ordinating committee of the games to push through matters more expeditiously. If Delhi makes a good show of staging the CWG, it would strengthen India’s chances to bid for hosting the
2020 Olympics.

China’s example, which set new standards in organising the Beijing Olympic Games, was noted by the world with awe and competitive envy. It was the Chinese way of reiterating their super power status.

So determined was China to make a grand show of the Beijing Olympics that it allowed nothing to come in its way. Not even the calamitous earthquake that hit the country’s Sichuan Province shortly before the games, the agitation in Tibet for autonomy, the threat of Jihadi Uighur violence in the Xinjiang province, and growing protests from human rights activists.

Security will be a matter of no small concern to the Commonwealth Games. But with Chidambaran there as Home Minister, there should no serious worry on this score. He has repeatedly assured the international sporting community that India is a safe destination.

Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the organising committee, says that extra precautions have been taken to ensure that the Delhi Games were not marred by any security threats.

"Security guards have been posted at the event venues right from the construction stage. The Commonwealth Games Federation has also employed a security consulting firm to monitor the development on a regular basis," Kalmadi adds.

A month ahead of the games, security agencies from all 71 participating countries will be taken on a tour of the venues and briefed on the arrangements.

Host countries use mega sports events to show their economic and political clout, as the entire world saw when China staged the Olympic Games at Beijing last year. In staging the Commonwealth Games, India’s national prestige and honour are at stake because this is more than a sports event. It is an opportunity to project a certain national image on the global stage. But as matters stand now, that image is not likely to be an especially flattering one.