CommonWealth Games 2010

An infrastructure was also being created to monitor the working of the doctors, she added. Bhukal said that Indira Bal Swasthya Yojana had also been implemented in the state. Under the scheme, health check-up of all school children was done and medicines were provided to the needy students.

Huge potholes have rendered the passage almost nonmotorable even as the Haryana government continues to fight a legal battle to complete a missing link of the 60-metre wide and 3.5-kilometre-long master road connecting DLF Golf Course Road with the shooting range. Residents of Ullawas village have secured a court stay against the acquisition of 5.5 acres in the middle of the stretch, leaving people no choice but to use the rough patch.

The negotiations between Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and landowners failed to yield result on Thursday and the matter has now reached the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

On Friday, the court deferred the hearing to August 30 when it is likely to announce its decision on the writ petition filed by HUDA to vacate the stay.

Worried, CRPF and HUDA officials are pinning their hopes on Monday when the court announces its verdict.

Source: Hindustan Times By Sanjeev Ahuja Only Road To CWG Shooting Venue Washed Away

On Thursday evening, the Delhi traffic police had excluded the badly dug up Connaught Place from the proposed track, as construction work was still ongoing there.

However, the traffic police -reportedly under pressure from host of the event, Cycling Federation of India -had to include Connaught Place's Inner and Outer Circle in the track.
Now, it is being said they are confident the construction work will be finished overnight.

"Initially we had excluded CP from the track, as we thought barricading the entire stretch will not be possible. However, the Federation men have promised to complete barricading of the track before 6 a.m. on Sunday. The events will start at 6 a.m. but main event will start at 10.30 a.m. and expected to be completed by 1.30 p.m.," said Satyendra Garg, Joint CP (Traffic).

Source: Hindustan Times Games Cycling Event On Track With Short Stretch

While it is imperative to fully investigate all cases of skulduggery that have come to light and dish out exemplary punishment to those found guilty, the wider point should not be missed, which is that such gargantuan exercises in thuggery would continue to occur unless we address the wider question of corruption and inefficiency becoming a way of life, not only in Government and municipal institutions and public sector undertakings but also private organisations like schools, colleges and clubs. And, of course, of sports bodies which have become synonymous with sleaze.

Those who regard such a view as grossly exaggerated would do well to find out -- if they have not already done so from experience -- the palms a citizen has to grease for a simple thing like buying a piece of land and building a house. Money has to be paid for accessing land records to check the validity of the seller's title to the land and then for recording the sale transaction in the official register. A number of officials, including those at the land records office and the local patwari, have to be bribed.

The second stage of serial bribery lies ahead for those in areas where plans for buildings need to be sanctioned and completion certificates of the buildings have to be obtained. Getting the sanction and the completion certificate both cost hefty amounts. Meanwhile, money has to be paid to the local police and municipal personnel at the rate of a certain amount per day during the entire period of construction for warding off strange interruptions of the deliberate kind. When all this is over, cash has to be handed out for getting water and power connections. There is a fixed amount for everything and a designated person to whom it has to be paid.

Source: The Pioneer By Hiranmay Karlekar Empire of corruption

But are the stadia Games-ready? CNN-IBN did a status check.

The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium is one of the main venues of CWG 2010. But a look inside reveals not such a pretty sight. The landscaping work is still going on and debris and other construction material are strewn all around.

The Yamuna Sports Complex doesn't look any better. The construction here is also still on.
Since the last week not much has changed at the Yamuna Sports Complex, which is the main venue for the table tennis event. Construction material is strewn all across the complex.

Since monsoons began, waterlogging has been a major cause for concern here. But the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) says it is now installing what it calls a special water drainage system to solve the problem.

Talkatora Stadium, which is the boxing venue, still awaits the boxing ring. The OC promises it will be installed by September 1.

At the SP Mukherjee Swimming Stadium, the overlays work is done and the field of play is ready. But work on the temporary structure, that will house all spectators at the Yamuna Archery Complex, has still not started.

The stadia are now the responsibility of the Commonwealth Games officials who are confident they will be ready come October 3. Ready they will have to because the buck stops here.

Click On Image To Watch Video..

"A gate at the Toll Plaza will be reserved for the participants for their hassle free movement. Apart from that, one lane of their route will also be reserved," Gurgaon Police Commissioner S S Deswal said.

The full bore shooting event is scheduled to be held in CRPF Kadarpur shooting range during the Commonwealth Games.

"In the morning, a lane from Toll Plaza to Kadarpur shooting range would be closed for public for some time, that is, at the time of arrival of the players. Similarly, a lane would be reserved on other side from shooting range to Toll Plaza at the time of departure," Deswal added.

Gurgaon will also follow the pattern of colouring the lane as it has been done in Delhi.

Modern equipment and security gadgets have arrived in the shooting range and the Gurgaon police personnel would be trained to operate them. CCTV cameras have been installed.

Officials have told The Telegraph that if the heavy rains now lashing Delhi continue well into September, it would be impossible to finish the preparations in time for the October 3-14 event.

But that could be a "blessing in disguise", an official said. It will provide India with the perfect excuse to get the event postponed, thus securing an honourable exit from a messy situation, he explained.

The unending rain, the heaviest in a decade, has further hobbled Games preparations just when the government had stepped in to speed up work and save India the blushes on the international stage. Yet the rain would not have mattered had the preparations been on schedule right from the beginning.

Source: The Telegraph By ARCHIS MOHAN Rain, Rain, Save Face And Come Again Hunt For `Excuse' To Defer Games

The Archery Association of India's (AAI) answer is an emphatic yes. "It's a colossal waste of taxpayers' money and went through only because of the corruption in the system," AAI secretary general Paresh Nath Mukherjee told HT.

He said the AAI did not want a new stadium to be built. "The AAI felt it would a huge waste of money. Existing greens with temporary spectator stands would have been good enough," Mukherjee said.

The AAI's opinion, initially put forward in 2009, was not accepted by the OC and Delhi Development Authority. The new stadium was built despite the fact that originally, only the preliminary rounds were to be conducted on its premises.
The finals were to be held at India Gate, which the OC called an `iconic venue'. The Delhi Police, however, put paid to that plan, denying permission.

"Nowhere in the world is a venue built just to host the prelims of an event. Not for the Olympic Games, or any other competition," said Mukherjee.

Source: Hindustan Times By Siddhanth Aney 25 cr Archery Stadium: Is It Missing The Target?

Haryana Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati said the state government has decided to observe Oct 14 as a public holiday in all its public offices, including educational institutions, boards and corporations, situated within the limits of Gurgaon district, on account of the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games.

The Commonwealth Games, the biggest sporting event to be held in India so far, are being held in New Delhi Oct 3-14 this year.

In further embarrassment for the Commonwealth Games (CWG) organisers, the board of NTPC Ltd has decided to sever all ties with the event.

NTPC, India's largest power generation utility, has also sought an audit by a government agency of the R20 crore it has already paid as sponsorship fees.

Another PSU, Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL), has also decided to withhold the R10 crore sponsorship it had promised.

NTPC, official power partner of the Games, is concerned that the negative publicity the Games have garnered following allegations of widespread graft will hurt its brand image.

Mint reported on August 6 that NTPC intended to drop the idea of using the event logo in all its correspondence for this reason.

The R20 crore already paid was part of a total Rs 50 crore commitment NTPC had made to the country's biggest sporting event in 28 years.

"Our board met yesterday and we have decided not to give the remaining money to them," said Chairman and Managing Director R.S. Sharma on Wednesday. "The Games logo stands dropped from all our communication. We need an audited account of the R20 crore we gave them to show us how the money was spent."

Source: Hindustan Times By Utpal Bhaskar Top PSUs withdraw Games Sponsorship

The hotel industry, which was looking forward to the Commonwealth Games (CWG) to lift it out of a two-year slump, has become an unlikely victim of the corruption surrounding the Games.

With only 50 days to go for the CWG to begin,  hoteliers in Delhi and Maharashtra are lamenting the fact that they have received very few advanced bookings.

Maharashtra's hoteliers were expecting tourists to visit the state especially Mumbai after the games got over.

In Delhi, only 1,700 rooms have been booked out of the nearly 17,000 available in various hotels. "We had expected a surge in advance bookings at our Gurgaon hotel but the controversies surrounding the games have eaten into the business.

The industry has been facing a setback for over two years since the terror attacks and we were hoping that the CWG would be a good opportunity to do business but that doesn't seem likely now. What's the point in increasing accommodation if tourists don't come at all," said SP Jain, managing director, The Pride Hotels.

Source: Mid-Day By: Urvashi Seth Game Over For Hotel Industry?

For the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, it does not seem to be a case of once bitten, twice shy.

Or so it would seem, going by the OC's previous experience with the Australian consultant, Sports Marketing and Management (SMAM), that it hired in 2008 to get sponsorships for the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune.

During the Pune games, the OC received total sponsorship worth Rs 19.99 crore. Out of this, over half-a-dozen public sector undertakings (PSU's) contributed sponsorships worth Rs 17.88 crore -or 89.45 per cent of the total amount.

While SMAM was responsible for generating sponsorship worth just Rs 2.11 crore, the OC paid it a commission of Rs 2.68 crore for the sponsorships received from PSUs for the Commonwealth Youth Games Pune till March 2010.

"Thus, it may be seen that the consultant did not succeed in bringing any sponsors other than the PSUs," states the interim inspection report of the Comptroller and auditor General of India.

CAG is now probing why despite the Pune fiasco, OC went ahead and signed contract with the same firm again for the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. "There is more to it than meet the eye. This issue should be probed by the investigating agencies and responsibility should be fixed," said a government official involved with games preparations.

Source: Hindustan Times By Moushumi Das Gupta Sports Marketing and Management (SMAM) Goofed Up At Pune Youth Games Too

The fiasco over Commonwealth Games 2010 has already dented India's reputation with foreign media questioning the country's ability to organise major global events.

"The Indian mess has destroyed any proposed Olympic bid before one has even been launched," said Londonbased Daily Telegraph, in an article last week. The Indian government was looking for a successful Games to kick start a bid for the 2020 Olympics.

Another London based newspaper had quoted the Queen's office as saying that she was upset regarding the controversy over the Queens' Baton Relay in London.

The games scam has also gripped the Australian media, which had accused the Organising Committee of making two Australians scapegoats for the mismanagement.

They are Mike Bushell, who heads Sports Marketing And Management (SMAM), an Australian company given the marketing rights, and Craig McLatchey, an Australian who heads Swiss-based Event Knowledge Services (EKS).

Source: Hindustan Times By Chetan Chauhan Common Wealth Shame : India's Image Gets A Beating Abroad

S.P. Singh, a subscriber of the guesthouse scheme for the Commonwealth Games, is not very optimistic about the number of visitors that would travel to Ghaziabad for accommodation during the Games. And he is worried he would lose returns on the
investment. The scheme, which opened in Ghaziabad
district, has only four finished guesthouses -- out of 17 applicants -- in Surya Nagar, Ramprastha, Chandra Nagar and Kaushambi.

The Ghaziabad Development Authority required special board-approvals to change the land-use for the guesthouse scheme in residential areas. However, other applicants haven't either turned up or completed their no objection certificate requirements.

"The bookings are not coming. For the time being, only local bookings have been the source of income. Things don't look very promising," Singh said. He has invested about

R4 crore to build a 16-room luxury facility in Kaushambi under the scheme.

However, GDA vice-chairman Narendra Kumar Chaudhary had a different opinion. "This depends upon the viability of the project. The owners may not be interested due to heavy investments," he said.

Source: Hindustan Times By Peeyush Khandelwal Few guesthouse bookings make investors nervous

Click On Image To Watch Video

Bansi says he sleeps on the footpath, if it rains he and his fellow workers stand under flyover.

They're part of a huge labour force that is now working overtime to ensure that the venues for the 2010 Delhi Games are finished in time.

The state government collects 1% of the total bill from construction companies for labour welfare. Over ` 389 crores have been collected, and that money is supoosed to go towards housing and education loans for the workers, scholarships for their children and better health facilities. Workers can even get a loan from this corpus from their chidren's wedding.

But there is a catch to avail this facility workers have to be registered with the labour board. Bansi and his friends aren't and Bansi says he doesn't know such a scheme exists, " We are not registered. No one told us about any facilities."

Source: NDTV Workers building Commonwealth Games stadia forced to sleep on footpaths

"We have got maximum outgoing bookings from Delhi during the Games," said Sarabjit Singh, president of Indian Tourism and Transporters' Association. "But, there are very few bookings within Delhi from tourists during the Games."

The Games would be the most convenient time for vacationing, because all schools will remain closed during that time with the Delhi government declaring school holidays then.

In addition, there are some government holidays in between, helping even government officials to take off from their busy schedules.

However, people who have decided to go on holiday, term the Games as not having enough attractions, as none of the big names would be making an appearance. Olympic gold medallist sprinter Usain Bolt of England and Australian tennis star Samantha Stosur, French Open finalists, have already announced that they will not attend the games.

Source: Hindustan Times By Chetan Chauhan Games effect: Delhi goes into vacation mode, heads out in Oct

This was accepted by the officials of Delhi Government during a hearing before the Central Information Commission.

The case came up for hearing before Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi.

"The respondents (officials of Delhi Government) have given information that there are no proper guidelines to check the hygiene standards for hotels, restaurants or vendors of food items," Gandhi noted in his order.

He directed the officials to inform the RTI applicant Santosh Kumar Kappu of Uttam Nagar, in writing, that there are no guidelines or circulars for checking hygiene standards for hotels, restaurants or vendors of food items.

During Commonwealth Games, about one lakh tourists are expected to flock the national capital from different countries.

Click On Image To Watch Video

The corruption scandal that has hit the 2010 Commonwealth Games was traced to London after the UK government raised a red flag about money being transferred from the CWG accounts in India to AM Films based in London.

The owner of the firm Ashish Patel though has come out in the open and denied the charges saying that there has been complete transparency in the dealings.

"The money has come genuinely to my company's account. No money has come to my personal account. I have invoices for all the money that came from CWG and we have supplied them vehicles and equipments", Patel said.

"157, 000 pounds are still outstanding and CWG owes it to me. No Indian authorities are in touch with me", he further added.

The Indian High Commission has categorically denied having introduced AM Films to the CWG committee.

Earlier, the Deputy High Commissioner of India in London, Rajesh N Prasad, wrote to the Sports Ministry about allegations of corruption made by the UK government, which says that 25,000 pounds sent from the CWG in India to a company, AM films, in UK, is unaccounted for.

The Secretary General of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, Lalit Bhanot who had denied all charges has said that the allegations are still being looked into and if there is any truth in them, action would be taken.

Abysmal conditions

Workers often labour without elementary safety precautions, like helmets, masks and gloves. If workers are given boots, the costs of these are sometimes cut from their wages. Accidents were reported from almost all the sites, but these were rarely reported to the Commissioner, Workmen's Compensation, and their legal reparation was withheld or diluted. Rarely are medical services available on site, beyond a first aid kit.

I spoke with many of the young men in the unkempt labour camps that hide behind the opulent constructions. They accepted the grime of their living spaces, their exploitative 12-hour shifts, their illegally low wages, and the loneliness of their uprootment, with not just resignation, but something that even resembled gratitude. They were grateful that the city's profligate aspirations allowed them to survive, even amidst its in-hospitability and cynical exploitation.

There are more than 260 laws on the Indian statute books designed to secure fair wages, and decent work and living conditions for workers, but none of these has illuminated the lives of the workers who rebuilt the capital city. Before October this year, no doubt their ramshackle labour settlements will be cleared and the workers despatched back to the hinterland from which they were recruited. We can be assured that they will not encumber the resplendent display of the `world-class city' for our global guests.

• In the shadows
  
• Shirking responsibility

It may surprise many that the Delhi Tourism and Transport Development Corporation (DTTDC) does not have a single hotel and, it is in an overdrive to secure private hotels or those belonging to the Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) to ensure accommodation for foreign guests who are expected to arrive to the national Capital for the Commonwealth Games.

A senior official of the DTTDC lamented that Delhi was the only state whose tourism department did not have a single hotel or restaurant, while all other states in the country have their hotels and restaurants.

However, DTTDC chairman and managing director P.K. Tripathi; Reena Ray, principal secretary, and Devinder Singh, director tourism, were not available for comments.

The official said that the DTTDC's role was just to assist the CWG organising committee.

The DTTDC has appointed four nodal officers to guide volunteers who have been selected by the organising committee to help visitors in identifying appropriate locations they would need to put up during the Games. The nodal officers will operate from the Delhi Institute of Hotel and Catering near Lady Sri Ram College.

The nodal officers are Usha Ravi Chandran, Rashmi Gehlot, Harjeet Kaur and Harish Govil.

Source: The Tribune By Syed Ali Ahmed Surprise: Delhi Tourism Deptt Does Not Have a Single Hotel Or Restaurant To House CWG Guest