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Who will bell the cat?
India’s preparations for its biggest-ever sporting event are embarrassing
When is a big orange cat with black stripes, symbolic of India, not a tiger? When it’s a lion, according to Lalit Bhanot, secretary-general of the Organising Committee (OC) for the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth games—for thus he describes Shera, the Games’ mascot. Mr Bhanot also insists that India will be ready to host the Games, to be contested by 8,000 athletes from 71 nations in October next year. That is similarly to ignore evidence to the contrary.
India’s preparations for the games are a shambles. Most visibly, 19 main sports venues are construction sites. According to a leaked report by the government’s main auditor in July, work on 13 of them was badly behind schedule—with swimming, boxing, hockey and rugby sites half-finished. The main Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, built for the Asian games in 1982—India’s only comparable experience of playing host to such a vast sporting event—and now being rebuilt, was never expected to stand comparison with Beijing’s futuristic "Bird’s Nest" stadium. But, on a visit to the site this week, it was tempting to fear it may not stand at all. The stadium’s roof, to shelter 60,000 spectators, remains an aspiration. The adjoining "weightlifting auditorium" is a low-level concrete mess.
But the venues are a relatively small concern for the Commonwealth Games Federation, an anxious governing body. Its Jamaican president, Michael Fennell, wrote this month to the OC, seeking crisis talks with India’s prime minister, Manmohan Singh. Mr Fennell was concerned that, with just a year to go, the committee had barely started planning to run the event. According to a leaked copy of his letter, he wanted to brief Mr Singh personally on the lack of preparations, and "seek his input in developing an appropriate recovery plan."
Such a plan might start—six years after Delhi won the games—with a serious think about transport, medical care and catering. The OC also needs to sort out ticketing. And it could use a broadcasting strategy—ideally before all the broadcasters interested in covering the event meet in Delhi next month.
Why is India, even as it demands, and gets, more respect in the world on the back of recent economic progress, making such a hash of this? It is not because it is poor. With an expected operating budget of 16 billion rupees ($335m), these games will be among the best financed ever. Nor is it because of another hackneyed excuse for inefficiency, India’s democracy. The most politically contested issues, such as bulldozing slums to make way for the contestants’ village, have largely been settled.
Rather, the OC displays many of the weaknesses of India’s incompetent public sector at large. It is well staffed, with 300 employees. But almost every big decision is made by a small number of senior officials, including allegedly timorous and slothful bureaucrats, with no specialist understanding of their tasks—and who are therefore reluctant to make any decision at all.
The OC’s deputy-boss, Randhir Singh, seems to have accepted this. "We now have to retrieve the games," he said this week. Specifically, he called for urgent changes to a system where: "There are 23 committees looking into the various organisational aspects of the games, but the chairmen of these committees hardly ever meet."
(Courtesy: The Economist; September 17, 2009)
(URL: http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14460474# )
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Delegates from 71 countries inspect Commonwealth venue,
some impressed, some doubtful
Ambika Pandit & Rumu Banerjee
New Delhi: As delegates from 71 countries started their inspection of Commonwealth Games venues on Thursday, Delhiites could easily have mistaken it for a state visit. Security was tight and the delegates were always ringed by attending Organizing Committee officials and volunteers. With mounting speculation over India's preparedness to host the 2010 Games, the OC made extra efforts to keep the delegates away from the media.
At the end of the day, the verdict was trotted out: OC declared that the visiting delegates had found the infrastructure ``impressive'' and called forth four delegates to back up its claim, even as it hustled out the rest away from the media glare.
The tight security, however, failed to stop adverse comments, with some of the delegates admitting that the city's preparedness wasn't up to scratch. A delegate from the British Virgin Islands claimed that while it seemed that work was going on at a fast pace, ``a lot more needs to be done''.
That seemed to be the sentiment of Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennell as well. Asked whether he felt things were moving in a positive direction, Fennell smiled: ``I would simply say it was a busy day''. That the day was hectic for the delegates was underlined when Fennell was found sleeping during a part of the presentation!
The federation chief was generally tightlipped. ``I don't wish to comment as we are not two sides. It is a process and everyone is trying to make it work for the Games,'' he told TOI.
The pace of work seemed to be the sticking point, as sources said that delegates enquire about how long it would take for all the venues to be ready. The questions came despite the tour having started with two venues that are relatively on time - the Commonwealth Games Village and Thyagraj stadium. The Village elicited a positive response from the visiting delegates - most felt it would turn out to be one of the best Villages in the Games' history. The Thyagraj venue was also praised for its appearance, said sources.
The rest of the visit though made for a rough ride for the OC, sources said. While Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi stadiums were appreciated, the second half of the day saw delegates visit the Talkatora stadium, the national stadium and the S P Mukherjee aquatics pool. The latter is where delegates expressed apprehension, sources revealed. The SPM venue is one of the projects lagging behind considerably.
The day was rounded up with a visit to the OC office, where delegates from Fiji, Cameroon and Mauritius were trotted out by the OC to express their delight with the preparations. Not surprisingly, the OC declared that delegates had found the visit ``positive'' and the infrastructure ``impressive''. It added that delegates had declared that the Delhi Games 2010 had facilities that were world class and up to the standard of the Olympic games. Interestingly, OC chairperson Suresh Kalmadi was absent at the venue visit on Thursday, though he is expected to rejoin the delegates on Friday. The reason, said insiders, was because he was in Pune canvassing in the state elections.
On Friday, the delegates are expected to visit the Karni Singh and Kadarpur shooting ranges as well as the Yamuna Sports Complex, to be followed by a visit to Delhi University.
Mike Fennell said the delegates would make a statement after these visits. ``I have said whatever I had in mind in the letter I had written to the Prime Minister earlier. I would like to comment only in a joint statement after the venue visits are over,'' he said.
Fennell had earlier written to PM Manmohan Singh expressing concern over the pace of preparations. That letter had led to a flutter, with OC chairperson Suresh Kalmadi coming under fire.
Concerned over the preparations, Manmohan Singh held an hour long review meeting with sports minister M S Gill and Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday. He asked Gill to coordinate with Indian Olympics Association to fine-tune the preparations.
Gill now has a larger role to play. After the review meeting with the PM, the chief minister and the sports minister had also met Union urban development minister Jaipal Reddy. The review continued on Wednesday as well.
(Courtesy: The Times of India; October 9, 2009)
(URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Delegates-from-71-countries-inspect-Commonwealth-venue-some-impressed-some-doubtful/articleshow/5104071.cms )
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