Best ever CWG, Mr Kalmadi?

Governance Now, editorial, May 1-15
All that could go wrong has gone wrong in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games.

When Michael Fennell, president of the Commonwealth Games Federation, expressed his concerns about preparations for the Games during his visit to Delhi last October and declared his intention to set up a technical review committee to monitor progress, organising committee chief Suresh Kalmadi was livid. He picked up an ugly fight with Fennell and declared that the Delhi Games would be the “best ever”. He repeated that boast to prime minister Manmohan Singh recently. Kalmadi’s lies are being nailed. Whatever could go wrong has gone wrong. On the finance front, it has proved to be a white elephant. From the initial estimate of Rs 1,899 crore in 2003, the cost of the Games has been officially revised to Rs 10,000 crore. Independent experts think the cost is several times higher because the government is hiding facts. For example, a non-government organisation has found out using the RTI that the Delhi government diverted Rs 265 crore from the scheduled caste sub-plan in 2009-10 alone to the Games but finance minister A K Walia feigned ignorance saying that he would have to check the records.

Last winter, night shelters were demolished on Pusa Road in the name of beautification, leaving poor people to die in the cold. Beggars have been hounded out. Many parts of the city have been dug up and most shops in the main city centre, Connaught Place, remain closed for renovation. All this is being done to deck up the city for the visitors but at a great cost to the poor and the commuters. That is not all. A couple of weeks ago, six colleges of Delhi University asked their students to vacate hostels so that these could be renovated for housing sportspersons. Fifty community halls of the city have been reserved for the paramilitary personnel between August and October, which happens to be the peak marriage season too. All schools have been asked to declare holidays during the Games in October so that the students would get to watch the events.

As far as the sports venues are concerned, the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium which will host the opening and closing ceremonies and athletics events and the Talkatora stadium which will host boxing and swimming events are not ready yet. The practice venues for badminton, squash and table tennis have not had even their layout plans approved. Work is on at a furious pace in the Games village being readied for the visitors. So we hope you understand, Mr Kalmadi, why we worry if the Games will be our costliest embarrassment.