Delhi Commonwealth Games or Shames!

THE NAME was ‘British Empire Games’, when it was held for the first time in 1930. This multi-sport international event has been held once in four years. The event was renamed in 1954 as the British Empire and Commonwealth Games. It was renamed again more appropriately in 1970 as the British Commonwealth Games. And nowadays it is simply referred to as Commonwealth Games.

There are 54 member-nations in Commonwealth now. The opportunity to play host for the 19th Commonwealth Games, 2010 has been given to India. The Commonwealth Games, 2010 will be held from October 3, to October 14, 2010.

The budget for the last event held in Australia was $1.1 billion while the budget for the Indian event is  more than double! That is, $2.5 billion (Rs. 11494 crores). This does not include expenditure on non-sports-related infrastructure development in the city like airports, roads and other structures.

Having started with such a huge budget provision, one would have expected that the arrangements would be great and simply surprise the world. The tremendous appreciation obtained by China for having hosted the recent Olympics was fresh in the memory of all and expectations were understandably high.

But in China, the punishment for swindling public money is quick; in India, the chances of getting caught are little for the corrupt politicians; and even if for some unexpected reason he is caught, the chances of getting punished are very remote, it would take decades, even if punished, it would be at the best (or worst) spending a few years in prison, with five star facilities. This makes a world of difference in public administration.

This is the first time that India secured the chance of hosting the Commonwealth Games. What is happening, and what is not happening make one wonder if this would be the last chance also.

To begin with there were delays and further delays causing concerns in the minds of others if everything would go on well in time. The Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee was giving excuses, and promises to keep everything ready in time.

The matter worsened, when the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) found out serious discrepancies like award of works at higher rates to bidders, poor quality of construction and grant of work to ineligible agencies in different Games-related construction works being carried out by various departments in the capital.

The assessment report prepared by the CVC's Chief Technical Examination Wing, highlighted large-scale procedural violations, including corruption in 16 projects. Following the revelations of corruption, came reports of glaring security lapses, thanks to a sting operation by an Australian channel.

Dave Currie, the New Zealand Chef de Mission for the Delhi Commonwealth Games visited the residential zone of the Games village and raised serious objections. He said, “There are some realities, I guess, that if the village is not ready and athletes can’t come then obviously the implications of that are it is not going to happen.

On October 20, 2010 (Monday) a canopy erected at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium fell, injuring an additional deputy commissioner of police and another policeman.

At around 3.10 pm, on October 21, 2010 (Tuesday), when some welding work was going on, the 95 meter long over-bridge connecting a car park with the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium collapsed, injuring 27 persons. Jaipal Reddy, the Union Urban Development Minister, hurriedly conducted a press conference and announced that it was all due to rains. But his smart announcement did not hold water, as Rakesh Mishra, the PWD Chief Engineer said, “It did not happen because of rains. Something has gone leading to the incident. We are looking into all aspects.”

The Delhi government led by Sheila Dikshit has blacklisted the Chandigarh based PNR Infra, which was building the foot-bridge. Sheila Dikshit, a typical Indian politician, has said, “The over-bridge was for spectators, not for athletes. We will make alternative arrangements.” How human lives could be differentiated like this, is known only to her.

Worse still is the reaction to the complaint about the residential flats. The complaint was that the flats in the Games village were filthy, littered with excrement and urine left there by construction workers! There were a number of stray dogs. A photograph showing a stray dog jumping on a bed in the village has been given to the CWG organizers.

The Commonwealth Games Federation Chief Michael Fennell visited the Commonwealth Games Village on September 23 (Thursday) and expressed hope that the pending works would be completed in time and Games would go on. Meanwhile, the New Zealand dissatisfied with the upkeep of the village, has engaged the services of a specialized outfit to clean up the residential tower (No.31) where their team would have to stay.

A number of sports persons have already withdrawn from the event, bringing down the standard of competition.

Realizing the seriousness of the matter, though belatedly, the Prime Minister has intervened and the whole project has been taken up on literally a war footing. The army has been called in to re-construct the footbridge that collapsed on 21st. An all-out effort is being made to redeem the Commonwealth Games as much as possible. For the first time, a somewhat positive note has come from Michael Fennell. He has said, “It is good to be in Delhi, and the briefing I received from my CEO, Mike Hooper, last night, was that considerable improvements have been made within the village, with further significant resources deployed by Ms. Dikshit, to make good what was a concerning situation.”

What was hoped to enhance India’s reputation and boost its image in the world has turned out to be a source of exasperation and shame. As it is, the Games may go on rather with a reduced participation but the damage to the reputation of India has been done, thanks to Kalmadi team, nay, gang. A rhyme doing rounds in SMS reads:

Baba Kalmadi, Have you any shame?
No Sir, no sir, we’re playing Common Loot Games,
Crores for my partners, crores for the Dame,
Crores for me too, for putting India to shame!

The corrupt people have already damaged the Delhi Commonwealth Games, 2010 even before its beginning! We know, not many heads would roll; at best we may hope for some leisurely enquiry that would peter out to nothing after spending a lot of public money.

It is a special kind of democracy and for now, we may have to satisfy only with such rhymes; and be thankful, even this may not last for long, if Indian citizens continue to be ensconcing themselves in the shells of caste, religion, region, and language provided to them by scheming politicians of the country.