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COMMONWEALTH GAMES 2010

 

It’s a matter of national honor and pride that we are hosting the Commonwealth Games. Going by the media reports the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games 2010 has left a blot on the India’s image and a lot will have to be done to save the face of the nation. The allegations of misuse of funds granted for the conduct of these Games speak volumes of the inept handling of the whole affair.

This has even angered Queen Elizabeth, the Queen of England who is furious over allegations of corruption involving a UK based firm in the baton relay of the Commonwealth games launched in London last year.

An equipment which you can buy out rightly for under Rs. Four lakhs is being hired for Rs.Ten lakhs for a mere 45 days? Yes, I am talking about the treadmill suppliers who are being paid only Rs. One lakh for 45 days rent of the equipment and being billed by over a 1000%. A taxi which was available for £ 250 a day in London was being hired for £ 450 a day?

The games organizing committee had paid £ 450,000 for services in London, without proper paper work.

Do we need politicians to run sports events? We have sportspersons of international repute who can do much better job. They are fully aware of the problems they have faced in a life-time of sports activities and how to avoid them.

And I want to mention the exorbitant cost at which toilet paper has been procured, wow, is this some special paper for special bottoms, exclusively for the games village?

Then there have been delays in the preparations of stadium for the Commonwealth games. The Minister of Sports for India, M.S.Gill says that “all the stadiums will be ready in two months time, God is with us”.

He goes on to add that ‘the stadiums are not leaking’. Wow, stadiums are not leaking, good, but is this the yardstick to measure the preparation of an event of such a magnitude? Yes agreed, God is with everybody but one has to exert extra effort to ensure that the schedule is not delayed.

As regards preparedness, the sports minister was unwilling to accept that the situation was as dire as it was being made out to be. “Most of the venues have already hosted test events without glitches. I have had a look at the stadiums, they are ready. Just the finishing work remains to be done,” Mr Gill said.

We have come a long way in these sixty years, earned respect world-wide, survived the worst recession which plagued the world, and now the Government should clean this rot and remove the blot.

Not a word has been said by any authority about the preparations for the opening and closing ceremonies. Will the Organising Committee be able to put up a show as good as the World Cup recently held in South Africa because those memories are fresh in the minds of the people world over?

And regarding the removal of Suresh Kalmadi as the Chairman of the Organising Committee, the Government says that he will continue in the present position. He in turn has sacked three of his ‘trusted’ aides as a face saver.

However, sources reveal that allegations of corruption on Kalmadi or his aides would be dealt with and he would be asked to explain everything, but only after the Games are over, and that’s better for the games.

This is a very serious and shameful manner in which all these things have been handled. It is only after the exposure by an investigative TV journalist that every incident has been brought to the fore.

But now they have overdone it and should stop right here. Let us first accomplish the task at hand without further blemish, and let the accountability factor be looked into thereafter.

And once all the toilet papers are utilised, then perhaps the centuries old ‘lota kharkega’.

Ravi Matah.