CommonWealth Games 2010

"Non-staging of the Games due to any reason, including terrorism or non-transmission of video signal to broadcasters during the event, are being taken into account in the Rs 750 - crore insurance cover proposal," a senior OC official said.

"We are in the process of finalising the event cancellation insurance cover," the official added.

With less than a month left for the Games, authorities are drawing criticism for the unfinished infrastructure for the event. Some prominent sportspersons have already opted out of the October Games citing various reasons.

This is apart from the Rs 500 crore insurance cover already finalised by the OC for athletes, CWG staff and technical officials, spectators and volunteers during the Games.

"We have followed the Commonwealth Games Federation guidelines while deciding on the insurance package covering all eventualities," said the official, adding, "Rs 500 crore insurance cover is being finalised under Comprehensive General Liability category."

Source: The Hindu Rs. 750 crore insurance cover sought in the event of CWG cancellation

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..

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?

इस मुद्दे को लेकर मंगलवार को सेक्टर-6 अथॉरिटी ऑफिस में मीटिंग हुई। डिप्टी सीईओ एन. पी. सिंह ने बताया कि गेम्स के दौरान देश भर के लोगों के अलावा विदेशी सैलानी में भारी तादाद में आएंगे, जो विभिन्न मॉल्स, होटलों के अलावा शहर के पार्क समेत इंडस्ट्रियल एरिया में घूमने जाएंगे। इस दौरान नोएडा की चमक में कोई कमी न रह जाए, इस संबंध में मीटिंग की गई। डिप्टी सीईओ ने बताया कि सभी सीनियर प्रोजेक्ट इंजीनियरों को 15 अगस्त तक शहर की खराब सड़कों, स्ट्रीट लाइटों व रेड लाइटों में आई खराबी, जेब्रा क्रॉसिंग, पार्कों की समस्या समेत अन्य को शॉर्टलिस्ट कर लिया जाएगा। खासतौर पर मेघदूतम पार्क, डी-पार्क, चिल्ड्रेन पार्क समेत अन्य पार्कों का सौंदर्यीकरण किया जाएगा। उन्होंने बताया कि 10 सितंबर तक सभी खामियों को दूर करने के लिए टेंडर होगा। इसके अगले 10 दिनों यानी 20 सितंबर तक नोएडा को क्लीन और ग्रीन कर लिया जाएगा। मीटिंग में डिप्टी सीईओ सी.बी. सिंह, एस.के. ओझा, एसपी ट्रैफिक, ट्रांसपोर्ट डिपार्टमेंट के अलावा अथॉरिटी के कई सीनियर इंजीनियर व अन्य अधिकारी मौजूद थे।

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

UPOA's general secretary Anandeshwar Pandey said in a statement on Monday that he refused to be dragged into the matter of "alleged financial irregularities being committed by the Games' Organising Committee", and claimed that it was Indian Olympic Association chief Suresh Kalmadi "who brought the Commonwealth Games to India". He urged that everybody should close this chapter till the finish of the Games.

"The CWG 2010 would establish India's image as a sporting nation before the world. Like the IOA, all its affiliated state units, including UPOA, too are standing behind the success of the Games," said Pandey who is also a member of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee.

in-charge, told Hindustan Times, "A CWG contractor team visited the cycling track twice last week and will start work on the arena from Monday""At the starting point, cabins will be set up for VVIPs, sportsmen, mediapersons, for office purposes and canteen," Jha added.

"From September  23, training will start and sportsmen will be at the site for four hours.  They will rest and take refreshment at these cabins. Spectators enclosures along the route too will be set up," Jha added.

"The CWG Organising Committee has made it clear to Noida authority that they will not pay any money to them as sports infrastructure will be developed by organising committee at their own cost. Noida Authority developed infrastructure will enhance the city infrastructure."

"However, payment will be made for sports infrastructure developed by the authority for the cycling track," Jha added.

Authority had given the bill of over Rs 11 crore to the committee for payment.

"Funds will not delay development work being done by the Noida authority. The payment issue will be resolved through discussions with the CWG team,"  said C.B. Singh, deputy chief executive officer.

"Our effort is to make the event memorable and foreign visitors should go with sweet memories of Noida," Singh added. On October 13, time trial cycling event is scheduled to be held on the Noida Expressway.

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

The problems, which had begun in June, have reached a point where the authority has instructed its engineers to stop work till the payment issue is sorted out.

Sources claimed that the OC and the authority discussed the problem on Tuesday, but there was no solution. The Noida Authority is further miffed that the OC has now demanded 1500 KW of power though initially it had asked the authority to arrange for 800 KW of power.

``Things went out of hand when some senior officials of the authority were asked to undergo security verification for the cycling event. While a section of officers protested, another section sent back the forms,'' claimed the sources.

According to senior authority officers, it had been decided that the OC will pay the body Rs 22 crore for resurfacing of the road which will double up as the race track, providing power at the makeshift stadiums and managing garbage and sewage near the time trial cycling venue. Another Rs 5 crore was sanctioned for the Noida police to beef up security at the venue.

However, since the beginning of June, the OC had been allegedly telling the authority that they were demanding too much money and should settle for ``something as low as Rs 11.5 crore".

Source: Times Of India By Dwaipayan Ghosh Payment row halts work on Noida cycle track

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

the festival details to these countries and getting queries from them about the sponsorship, stall specifications and the product range to be displayed," said Abhilash Sharma, UP Tourism regional officer, looking after the Noida festival project.

"Last year, the fair was held for the first time Noida. Permanent stage and office space were made at Noida Stadium. The site was earmarked for holding annual festival on the pattern of Surajkund Handicraft Mela," said Sharma.

"In view of the Commonwealth Games this year, we planned International Shopping Festival like Dubai Trade Fair. Around 40 per cent foreign visitors are expected to extend their stay for sightseeing," he said.

Source: The Tribune By Parmindar Singh CWG: Noida plans shopping fest for visitors

"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

Congress MP Mani Shankar Aiyar had promised he would not criticise or give his opinion on the Commonwealth Games (CWG) till it is over, but the former sports minister must surely be relishing the fact that somebody's already taken his place.

On Monday, Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Dalit leader Mayawati lambasted the Delhi government for diverting Rs744 crore from the Special Component Plan (SCP) to the CWG corpus.

The money was meant for the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Mayawati, who had read about it in a media report, said the diversion was "inexplicable". She has also demanded that these funds should be returned to the SPC corpus and used for the SC/ST.

"This act of the Delhi government indicates its anti-Dalit mentality. There are a large number of SC/ST people living in Delhi, and all of them are very poor. The government could have used these funds for providing health care, education and basic amenities to these people," she said in a statement.

A recent query by a Right to Information activist revealed that over the past five years, the Delhi government diverted Rs744 crore from SPC to Games projects. This is in violation of Planning Commission guidelines.

Mayawati demanded that the money be used only for the welfare of the Dalits, and urged the Planning Commission to take note of this irregularity.

The allegations have place the Congress on the defensive. "We are all for a thorough inquiry into all allegations of corruption. These should be probed fully and the guilty should be punished," Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said.

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.