2010 Common Wealth Games - Delhi India

Indian Superstars: The Medal Winners

2010-10-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

Interpol applause games security

2010-10-15T12:05:00.000-07:00

General public might have faced some difficulties due to curbs in their movements amid excessive police presence in the Capital during the Commonwealth Games but the ‘effort’ to ensure foolproof security has earned India applause from the Interpol, the global police body.

Praising the arrangement and efforts which went behind it, the Interpol has stated that the Commonwealth Games in India reached “security milestone” in cooperation with the global police body.

Interpol secretary general Ronald K Noble said, “While there has been much media speculation on India’s preparation for hosting the Commonwealth Games, Interpol wishes to go on the record to commend India from a security standpoint....This impressive security milestone could only have been reached through exhaustive and careful planning by both India and Interpol.”

The Interpol has commended Indian security agencies for their “collaborative” efforts with international law enforcement agencies in ensuring the security of participants and visitors flocking the national capital for the Commonwealth Games.” With India hosting hundreds of thousands of visitors during the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Interpol deployed at the request of Indian authorities a Major Events Support Team (IMEST) to support their security efforts,” he said.

Audit to Begin: Now Culprits may find it hard to sleep

2010-10-15T12:04:00.002-07:00

With the successful completion of the Delhi Commonwealth Games, a collective sigh of relief might well have risen over Raisina Hill. The stuttering prelude to the games, marked by a frantic pace to meet deadlines, had kept a fretful government on edge.

More than one senior figure in the government agreed that the emotion was one of pride about India pulling off a big show tempered by the realization that the games had been a close shave. The standing applause from chefs de mission at the Games Village on Thursday morning was hard earned indeed.

While questions are being raised whether the successful conclusion of the event might dull the appetite for a full inquiry into the graft allegations and bungling that all but marred the Games, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s decision to sit in the spectators’ gallery rather than the VVIP box is an unmistakable statement.

Organizing Committee (OC) chairperson Suresh Kalmadi, who has been at the centre of controversies swirling around the games, seemed a man out on a limb at the closing ceremony thanking everyone in the government and even naming the secretaries to the government. In his bid to ensure he got the pecking order right, he got to Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse pretty late.

Not the most articulate of speakers, Kalmadi thanked Delhi mayor Kanwar Sain even though the present incumbent is Prithviraj Sahni. But that is a minor glitch, and the OC chief is likely to be called to account for a lot of dirty linen stuffed into various cupboards. The mood in government is clear: it is now time for a detailed audit.

The ambit of the inquiry is likely to probe irregularities in the tendering for games contracts, the failure of the Delhi government and some Central agencies in delivering results as well as initial findings that construction was substandard.

Both Congress leaders and government sources appeared clear that the corruption and sloth that almost led the Games not happening cannot be allowed to be brushed aside. The corruption charges have been deeply embossed in the public mind and lack of action was going to reflect poorly on the Manmohan government.

In fact, the late surge to ensure that national honor was not compromised was set in motion at a Congress core group meeting on August 13, where Sonia made it clear that the Games have to be rescued and those guilty of mismanagement need to be brought to book. The following day, PM Manmohan Singh held a marathon meeting that set up an empowered committee to monitor the Games.

What has amazed senior officials is that even after the PM’s intervention the attitude of OC bosses did not change much.

After a small pause: bluelines are back on roads

2010-10-15T12:04:00.001-07:00

As the Commonwealth Games came to an end, the fate of 1,600 Bluelines which were phased out from central Delhi and routes leading up to Games venues was hanging in balance. Though the buses will be back on the original routes from October 18 as per the official notification, sources say that the transport department, and Delhiites in general, seem to be keen to phase them out from the routes for good.

Right before the Games started, 1,600 Bluelines plying on 132 routes were put off the roads by Delhi government. The routes were those passing through New Delhi district and near Commonwealth Games venues. For some buses, the routes have been curtailed to ensure that they turn back before entering the designated area where no Bluelines will be allowed. The move is aimed at improving the ‘‘image and look’’ of areas which will be frequented by athletes, delegates and tourists during the Commonwealth Games.

With the Games coming to an end, the notification will also cease to have effect from October 18 when the buses return to their original routes. But the city seems to have gotten used to cleaner, disciplined roads while the ‘‘killer’’ fleet was away and this is now also prompting the government to look for a permanent solution. As for now, sources said that the possibility of extending the notification was looked into but this could have led to serious legal implications for the government, which is bound by a court order issued in May which banned the phase-out of Bluelines till the corporatisation scheme took off.

Encouraged by the response to the phase-out, the transport department is confident that the enhanced DTC fleet can meet the transportation demands of the city. Commuters, too, are a happy lot. ‘‘The DTC buses move a bit slower but are overall better than the Bluelines. They are more comfortable, the seats are not broken and the conductors don’t pick up fights with people on the way,’’ said Veena Prasad, a resident of Paschim Vihar.

Even motorists feel movement of traffic is smoother without the buses. ‘‘The Bluelines were a major nuisance on the roads. Traffic moves faster and there is less trouble on roads,’’ said Ashwani Kumar, resident of Niti Bagh.

The city has sufficient number of buses and another 2,200 DTC buses on Games duty will also be added to the fleet after October 14. Traffic experts feel with such a large number of buses present, there is no need to wait till the corporatisation scheme takes off to get rid of the Bluelines.

People Celebrated the Games Spirit in Durga Puja

2010-10-15T12:02:00.002-07:00

Shera may have been conspicuous by his absence at the Commonwealth Games, but at a Durga Puja pandal in Mayur Vihar not one, but many mascots were seen dancing to the traditional dhak.

The Milani cultural and welfare association in Mayur Vihar, which has the Games as its theme, has constructed a pandal that looks like Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. ‘‘Since India has performed exceptionally well, we decided to celebrate the spirit of sports this Durga Puja,’’ said Mrinal Biswas, pandal secretary, Milani cultural and welfare association.

Inside the pandal, posters of various sports adorns the walls, just as JN Stadium. The national flags of the 12 top countries judged on the basis of their performance in the Games also find pride of place. ‘‘We started preparation around one-and-a-half months back. We had to study the JN stadium and the way it has been lit up during the night and replicate it,’’ said Biswas.

This year, a majority of pandals are celebrating 150 years of Rabindranath Tagore. Some have created a small replica of his house, while others are organizing special programmes to celebrate the poet’s life and work. ‘‘We will stage a play written by Tagore called Bir Purush Dal. One day we will hold a special show on Rabindra sangeet,’’ said M K Dasgupta, general secretary, Purbachal puja committee.

Similarly, Mela Ground committee in CR Park has Tagore’s life as theme. ‘‘This is a tribute to Tagore. This year, we are promoting local talents. Due to security concerns we have kept the celebrations a low-key affair,’’ said Pranab Chaudhuri, member of the Mela Ground committee.

This festive season, some feel, is the right time to educate people on issues like global warming. So, the Kali Mandir committee is organizing a puppet show to educate people about the harmful effects of global warming and what we can do to stop it from destroying our planet. ‘‘It’s not just children, but adults too who need to be educated about global warming. We have called a group from Kolkata for this,’’ said Anjan Mukherjee, member of Kali Mandir committee.

Many puja organizers complained that this year they had to restrict the number of cultural programmes as they did not get sponsors.

Games Tourists Explored City on Foot

2010-10-15T12:02:00.001-07:00

The public holiday on Thursday offered tourists the perfect opportunity to head out and explore the city. With the usual maddening crowd staying off the roads all markets and offices were shut on account of the Games closing ceremony most visitors went sightseeing and made the most of their last day in Delhi.

Fabio from Italy, who was here to help out with lighting arrangements at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, was spotted at India Gate with Simone and Patrick from Germany. Complete strangers till Wednesday, the three of them met each other at their guesthouse and decided to go around the town together.

‘‘We were all here for work and could not find the time to see our host city. But our stay has now come to an end. Markets were closed on Thursday and the roads were also empty so we decided to go sightseeing. We visited Jantar Mantar and stopped by at India Gate. We enjoyed a lot,’’ said Fabio. In some areas, even restaurants were shut and the city wore a deserted look.

The Adamsons from Scotland also decided to go sightseeing and took the hop-on, hop-off buses. ‘‘We were hard pressed for time and could not see any of the popular places in Delhi. Our stay is nearly over and we are returning to Scotland now, so we decided to visit the various tourist sites here. We liked everything about Delhi but the security was really heavy,’’ said Bill Adamson, whose son is part of the Rugby team.

Delhiites, too, managed to catch up with family and friends. Charanjeet Singh enjoyed his holiday with family in Connaught Place. ‘‘We are a joint family and hardly get time to go out together. Since Thursday was holiday, I decided to take out all the children to Akshardham after which we came to CP.’’ The huge screen installed at Inner Circle attracted many passersby. ‘‘We just saw the hockey final at Dhyan Chand Stadium. We are very proud of India despite the defeat. We came to CP and might stay longer to see the closing ceremony on the big screen.’’

For those living near Lodhi Road and Sewa Nagar, a clear view of JN Stadium from their terrace meant having guests over. Radha Sharma, a resident of Sewa Nagar Railway Colony, said her cousins from Shimla came over specially to watch the closing ceremony. ‘‘First we had guests for the opening ceremony and now more people have come to watch the closing event,’’ said Radha.

Medals won by Indian Shooter Mistakenly placed in Oz Athlete Baggage Created Panic

2010-10-15T12:01:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, India almost ‘lost’ two medals, which were won by one of its ace shooters, to Australia. Heena Sidhu, who had won gold in 10m air pistol team event and silver in individual event, spent a few anxious moments after her bag containing the medals was mistakenly placed in the baggage of an Australian athlete by security officers during the compulsory baggage checking at the Games Village.

According to sources, the incident took place after Heena had returned to the Village after winning her silver medal on Wednesday. ‘‘She was carrying clothes and training kit along with her medals. The bag she was carrying was identical to that of an Australian athlete. The unintended exchange took place at the baggage scanning area managed by Delhi Police,’’ said a senior venue officer. The cops said they began checking CCTV footage as soon as they were intimated by the Indian officials about the missing bag. ‘‘We traced the bag to tower 34 of an Australian athlete. We contacted her and asked her to return the bag as she was not its real owner. She was taken aback as she had not even checked that bag. She willingly gave back the bag and took her own bag from us. Everything inside the bag was found intact, including the medals, which was handed back to Heena,’’ said an officer.

The cops said they contacted Heena and Indian contingent at the Village and apologized for the ‘‘inadvertent error.’’

Though Heena could not be contacted, her shooting partner and gold medal winner, Annuraj Singh, confirmed the incident. ‘‘Everything is all right now. We are proud of Heena’s achievements. The problem has been solved to everyone’s satisfaction,’’ said the ace shooter.

At the cost of 70 crore: did the helium balloon worth its cost

2010-10-15T12:00:00.001-07:00

It was bought for Rs 38 crore and was supposed to be the highlight of the opening and closing ceremonies. The helium balloon cost the taxpayer almost Rs 70 crore in total. Yet, on Thursday evening, as the Delhi Games 2010 came to a close, the aerostat merely ended up being a glorified backdrop for the various acts at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

Hovering above the grounds, the aerostat described by the organizers as the biggest helium balloon in the world was not even a significant part of the various acts that followed through, far from being the star of any segment. Used more as a prop, with faded pictures and video streams beamed along the sides, the balloon was literally a shadow in the background of the glittering show. For a show that aspired to deliver on the raised expectations of the opening ceremony, the balloon almost seemed an afterthought.

Not perhaps the best closing shot that the organizing committee (OC) would have wanted of this white elephant, specially considering the OC is hoping to find buyers for the aerostat once the Delhi Games 2010 is over. In an earlier interview with an English Daily Times of India, head of Delhi 2010 OC Suresh Kalmadi had admitted that the OC was going to dispose of the aerostat as soon as the Games was over and had already started looking for buyers. Kalmadi had said, ‘‘It’s the property of the OC. We are planning to sell the balloon after the Games... hopefully, this would go towards adding to the revenue OC would have in the end. Incidentally, the OC has taken a loan of Rs 1,620 crore from the Central government to organize the Games — which the OC had promised to pay back with revenue from sponsorships and ticket sales. Unfortunately for the OC, the sponsorships were nowhere near the expected figure, though the committee claims revenue in the region of Rs 700 crore has been generated to date.

The aerostat’s less than glittering show on Thursday evening, however, could not have been the best advertisement for the OC. The opening ceremony had a dedicated segment on the balloon, complete with the beats of Nagadas introducing the aerostat as it ascended to the top of the stadium, hovering 25m above ground. For many, the aerostat set the pace for the rest of the evening in the opening ceremony. For the spectators gathered at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the balloon ascension and the fireworks accompanying it seemed to be like the call to start the celebrations even as it was total paisa vasool. The underbelly of mirrors reflecting the lights on the field of play had only added to the sense of drama.

But on Thursday, that feeling was markedly absent. Most spectators were enthralled with the laser show and the Vande Mataram segment in the closing ceremony even as the Bollywood brigade represented by Shankar Mahadevan, Shiamak Davar and Kailash Kher brought the capacity crowd to its feet. Rohan Bhardwaj (name changed), a volunteer and spellbound spectator of the closing ceremony, said, ‘‘I had expected more of the balloon this time. After all, it’s a great presence in the middle of the field.

The creative team for the closing ceremony obviously didn’t think so. For a prop which at one time was supposed to take drummers up into the sky as the show opened, the aerostat’s final appearance was almost an anti-climax. Even the mirrors seem to have disappeared, leaving only a balloon reflecting images behind.’’

On closing Ceremony Laser Light Steals the Show

2010-10-15T11:58:00.002-07:00

If the aerostat was the star of the show at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games, the honor belonged to the dancing laser lights at the grand finale on Thursday. The lasers had the arena to themselves for a mere seven minutes but played a significant role in creation of the magical ambience that was the signature of the ceremony which was more relaxed and in many ways more fun than the opening ceremony 10 days ago.

Through the Agni-glory of sports (martial arts show), Vande Mataram and Glasgow segments, the lights gently played around the field. The eeriness associated with the Loch Ness Monster or the spectacular sight of schoolchildren paying a tribute to their motherland in the colors of the national flag was created by these lights. These reached a feverish pitch immediately after the screen had flashed the ‘See you in Glasgow’ sign.

They twisted, turned, created waves in hues of violet, blue, green and every colour of the rainbow and suffused Jawaharlal Nehru Stadim in a supernatural glow. They created illusions of spiraling tunnels at one moment and sheathed the 60,000-odd spectators in a blanket of light at another. It was almost like light had become a three-dimensional object. ‘‘It almost felt that one had entered a zone where nothing but lights were allowed, like in a dream,’’ said 15-year old Vasuki Aiyer, struggling for words to describe the spectacle.

The music was appropriate to the occasion. There were vocals by Shankar Mahadevan and drums, to whose tunes the lights which seemed to have become animate objects gyrated. It was something that Delhi had never seen before.

The aerostat featured lights in geometric patterns but there was hardly anybody who could take eyes off the antics of the lights themselves to look at the projection of the helium balloon.

There has been much more song and dance about the aerostat but today it was little more than a prop. On the other hand, the lights created such an atmosphere of supernatural beauty that it was unbelievable. ‘‘It was like I was in the kingdom of lights where every resident was doing its best to entertain me,’’ said Supriya Sinha, a resident of R K Puram.

The show, which cost the Organizing Committee Rs 1.5 crore, a fraction of the Rs 40-crore bill that the aerostat notched up, was staged by the German firm, Tarm Showlaser, that had enthralled audiences at the closing ceremony of the recently held FIFA World Cup in South Africa among other international events. They had also performed at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver and the Athens Olympics in 2004.

Australian Cricket Team Lost: Oz athletes take out frustration in Games Village

2010-10-15T11:58:00.001-07:00

Oz athletes take out frustration in Games Village, destroyed electrical fittings and furniture, washing machine: What a Shame

New Delhi: At the top of the medal tally and the undisputed champions of the Commonwealth Games, the Australian team, sadly, didn’t show any sporting spirit when their cricket team lost the Test series to India on Wednesday.

Enraged by the humiliating loss, some athletes, according to highly-placed sources in Delhi Police, went berserk, destroying electrical fittings and furniture in their tower in the Games Village on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Not just that, policemen posted there say they also shouted slogans against batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, who played a pivotal role in ensuring India’s victory in the Bangalore match, and flung a washing machine down from the eighth floor of their tower.

Their hooliganism started on Tuesday when Sachin scored a double century. ‘‘The housekeeping staff tried to stop them but to no avail,’’ said a senior police officer handling security inside the Village. Stunned by the little master’s stellar performance, they first damaged electrical fittings and fixtures in their block.
On Wednesday, when India brainwashed Australia 2-0 to keep the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the Australian athletes reportedly threw a washing machine down from the eighth floor, said a senior officer. Mercifully, no one was injured.

Delhi Police, which received a complaint about this vandalism, tried to downplay the incidents to prevent them from snowballing into a diplomatic embarrassment for Australia.

On reports that some Australian athletes went berserk inside the Games Village after their cricket team lost the Test series to India, a senior officer posted there said that they have not received any complaints from Organizing Committee (OC) which owns the property inside the Games Village. ‘‘Therefore, we have not registered any case,’’ said a senior police officer.

Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said: “No complaint has been received. We have found a broken washing machine from the block where the athletes were staying. We are trying to establish as to how the machine reached there.”

OC officials didn’t pursue the matter. ‘‘We have not given any complaint and the matter has been sorted out after discussion with the Australian chef-de-mission,’’ said an official. When asked whether the Australian athletes have tendered any apology, he declined any comment.

With 101 Gold India Beats England in Medal Tally to be on Position two

2010-10-15T11:53:00.000-07:00

England and India were tied at 37 golds each, but England had many more medals, so it was a must-win match for Saina and for a nation desperate for some cheer after a demoralizing 0-8 drubbing in the men’s hockey final.

Going by track record, it should have been a no-contest. Saina, world no. 3, had an unbeaten 4-0 record against her opponent, Malaysia’s Mew Choo Wong. But Wong, world No. 17, had run Saina close in the team final a few days ago. Could she do an encore?

She almost went one better in a 74-minute thriller that Saina would later describe as the toughest match of her career. Eventually, Saina won a nerve-wracking battle 19-21, 23-21, 21-13 after facing a match point at 20-21 in the second game. Never before has the country been united by a badminton match. Nor has India come so close to finding such a loved sporting icon after Sachin Tendulkar.

Saina’s triumph ensured the Games would end on a high note for India. It was perhaps only fitting, given the number of heroes who thrilled Indian fans in the past few days.
Earlier on Thursday, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa had won the women’s doubles, again a first for India. The record haul was, of course, set up by the shooters, with Gagan Narang bagging four golds. The wrestlers, led by world champ Sushil Kumar, too obliged adoring fans. But golds also came from some delightfully unexpected quarters.

There was teenager Deepika Kumari, who came up with a golden double in the women’s recurve archery event. India hadn’t won a gold in either track or field since 1958. It got one in each, with Krishna Poonia leading a clean sweep of the women’s discus throw, and the women’s 4x400m relay squad beating Nigeria and England.

Indeed, the relay win, greeted by full-throated acclaim from a packed J N Stadium, moved former athletics great and head of the London 2012 Olympics OC Sebestian Coe to declare, ‘‘It may just have changed the direction of track and field not only in India, but in Asia.”

So does Delhi 2010 herald the arrival of India as a sporting nation? It may be premature to say so. The Asian Games that follow shortly will give us a more accurate assessment of where we stand. But at least while the Delhi Games lasted, Indians tuned in to many sports other than cricket. The Saina-Wong epic was followed as enthusiastically on TV as any T20 thriller. In that and the youngsters who will be inspired to come up with similar feats lies hope for the future.

Top 3 Medal Winners as on 10 October 2010

2010-10-10T10:37:00.002-07:00

Australia - 60 Gold; 36 Silver; 35 Bronze; Total - 131
India - 29 Gold; 22 Silver; 22 Bronze; Total - 73
England – 25 Gold; 45 Silver; 30 Bronze – Total - 100

No one wants to stay in VK Games Flats

2010-10-10T10:37:00.001-07:00

The Vasant Kunj flats that were built for Commonwealth Games delegates seem to have no takers. Even as the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) claims that it had 1,300 flats ready by September 23, only 620 people turned up to stay in them. In fact, according to officials working at the complex, even the national technical officials who were staying there have started leaving ‘‘after having completed their work’’.

Besides the Kaveri Tower, all other towers are far from being complete. On Friday, when Times City visited Vasant Kunj, the complex looked deserted. According to the guards, while the dining hall had been completed from the outside, a lot of work inside the hall remained incomplete.

In Saraswati Tower, where officials claimed that 90% of the work had been completed, iron rods could be seen jutting out from various flats. No landscaping work was done and several portions had been barricaded to hide away the under construction areas. An official said: “A lot of work could not be completed on time due to the heavy rains.”

DDA claimed that it had handed over the flats to the Commonwealth Games organizing committee on September 23, and some volunteers had started living there from September 16. Said an official: ‘‘We had 1,300 flats ready by September 23, which meant that 2,700 rooms were made available for the delegates. Only 620 of them are occupied at present. Some national technical officials, who had been staying in the flats earlier, were shifted. We do not know the reason behind this.’’

Meanwhile, the organizing committee claims that the flats at Vasant Kunj are not up to the mark and this is the reason why international technical officials were put up in city hotels. Said OC general secretary Lalit Bhanot: ‘‘We were supposed to provide four-star accommodation to 1,500 international technical officials. The rooms being provided to us at Vasant Kunj are not of this standard. While some national technical officials are now living in these flats others have been provided accommodation near the Games venues as they have to start work early.’’

Even the technical officials who were staying in the flats have started leaving. Said an official at the complex: ‘‘Out of the 805 flats at Kaveri Towers, 700 have been completely furnished. There is no need to furnish more rooms as only 620 Games delegates are using the flats. Some of them have started leaving after having finished their work. Other delegates who belong to Delhi didn’t wish to move into these flats.’’

Closing Ceremony will witness 7000 artistes perform

2010-10-10T10:36:00.001-07:00

The closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games on October 14 will be a show of unity and solidarity. While the flag parade of the opening ceremony separately introduced each of the contingents from the 71 participating nations, the closing ceremony promises to be a fun fiesta the march-past will feature jumbled groups of participating athletes to send out a message that they are leaving as one big family.

Having handed over the field of play (FOP) at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium for athletics on Wednesday, the organizing committee’s ceremonies team is busy with preparations for the closing ceremony, which they promise will also deliver the ‘‘wow factor’’.

According to sources, though the theme and essence of the closing ceremony will be completely different from the opening spectacle, it will be as grand an event. This time too, about 7,000 artistes will come together to present a spellbinding show.
The opening parade saw athletes from participating countries move in separate contingents with their placards. But the closing event seeks to showcase that all contingents each of which came with its unique identity have been united as one happy Games family.

‘‘The rains had affected preparations for the opening ceremony for most part of September. But we successfully pulled it off. The closing, too, is a challenge as we will get very little time to put together all the logistics. But the team will focus on a minimalist yet innovative approach to retain the ‘‘wow factor’’,’’ said Shovana Narayan, head of ceremonies team. She, however, refused to divulge any further details.

After the opening ceremony on October 3, the ceremonies team had been working to restore the field of play. About 16,000sqm of grass was planted on the FOP before it was handed over on Wednesday morning for the athletics event.

Around midnight on October 12, when the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium is handed back to the ceremonies creative team, it will get just 24 hours to convert the FOP into a theatre all over again. ‘‘Our team will be working by the clock. Every minute will count. The lights, videos, aerostat, the conversion of FOP into a theatre, and all other arrangements will be put in place within a very short period. The cast will be brought in on the morning of October 14 to familiarize themselves with the venue by evening,’’ Narayan elaborated.

Most Gold Medal Winners from Haryana

2010-10-10T10:35:00.002-07:00

Thirteen of the 25 gold medals that India bagged till Saturday have been mopped up by sportspersons from the northern region, with Haryana alone mopping up 10, including one shared with Himachal Pradesh.

This means the northern states of Punjab, Haryana and HP have clinched more than 50% of the gold medals, with Haryana bagging the lion’s share. Its silver and bronze bonanzas are also the highest in the region, with four silvers and two bronzes under its belt.

Punjab’s Abhinav Bindra had opened the gold account by bagging India’s first gold on the second day. Himachal’s honours rained on Friday and Saturday with army man Subedar Vijay Kumar clinching all three in shooting.

Just before the games, the Jats had been threatening to disrupt the Games for job quota. Now, the whole of Jatland is basking in the dominance of its sons and daughters in the international sports arena.

The boy from Bhainswal Kalan village in Sonepat, Yogeshwer Datt, became the seventh wrestler from Haryana to win gold when he floored his rival in the final match in 60kg freestyle on Saturday.

Earlier, four wrestlers Ravinder Singh (60 kg), Sanjay Kumar (74 kg) and Anil Singh (96 kg), Rajender (55 kg) had bagged gold in Greco-Roman style, while two girls, Geeta and Anita from Babali and Dhani Mahu villages of Bhiwani district won in their respective categories.

The golden show also continued in shooting as after Faridabad girl, Anisha Saied, clinched two gold medals, Karnal boy Harpreet Singh paired with Vijay Kumar (from HP) bagged gold in 25 meter shooting event.

People of Haryana have burst into celebrations following the unprecedented success of their sportspersons. Significantly, most of them are from dusty countryside with humble backgrounds, who made it to the Games with their sheer determination. Now, the prizes and praise is being showered by the same people who had been opposing the Games.

State president of the Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti, Hawa Singh Sangwan, told that their organization has decided to honor the sportspersons after conclusion of the Games.

‘‘We’re proud of the achievements of the Jat girls and boys who’ve brought laurels to the country. The samiti will honor them after the Games. A meeting has been called in Ghaziabad on Monday to decide on the prize money and other incentives,’’ said Sangwan.

All Medal Winners to get 20 percent discount on IGI Duty free Shop

2010-10-10T10:35:00.001-07:00

Indian handcrafted items like rose buds dipped in silver, shawls, decoration pieces and, of course, collectibles sporting Mahatma Gandhi are on offer for athletes and delegates from across the world for the ongoing Commonwealth Games.

India’s largest duty-free retail operator located at the new Terminal 3 of the IGI airport here has also announced special discounts for athletes shopping at the duty-free shops till October 20.

‘‘All athletes who have won medals are entitled to a 20 per cent discount on items purchased and we are offering other athletes a 10 per cent discount,’’ said Abhijeet Das, head marketing at Delhi Duty Free Services Pvt Ltd (DDFS).

A dedicated section ‘‘Discover India’’ highlights a range of ready-to-eat food, varieties of tea and coffee, cosmetics, perfumes and handcrafted souvenirs. Another special section offers special Mahatma Gandhi souvenirs.

‘‘The Gandhi products have been very popular with watches, pens, mugs, calendars and sculptures selling a lot,’’ said Das.

Visitor Management System in every 5-star hotel

2010-10-10T10:34:00.002-07:00

If you are not staying at Delhi’s five-star hotels and only visiting their bars and restaurants, do not be surprised if you are photographed and issued a visitor card.

Delhi Police has asked all high-end hotels to install visitor management system (VSM) to record info about all the visitors. Touted as a foolproof check, VSM records the entry of visitors, their movement within the hotel and details of people they are meeting. ‘‘We ask visitors for any identity proof with their photo be it a driving license or a PAN card. Using the details on the card, we issue a visitor pass,’’ said a senior staffer at the Le-Meridien Hotel where several Games delegates are staying.

Most of Delhi hotels provisioned 50% extra budget for procuring latest security gadgets for Games though modern equipment such as baggage scanners, door frame metal detectors, CCTVs were included soon after Mumbai 26/11 attack. ‘‘A large amount was spent on installation of these security gadgets. We have also illuminated the area around the hotel so that CCTV cameras can record clear images during night. We are also using VSM. Electronic equipment are thoroughly checked and manual frisking is also done,’’ said a staffer at Ashok Hotel where many dignitaries are staying.

Hotel Janpath where foreign media officials are staying too has undergone renovation for security reasons. ‘‘We have spent money on installing CCTVs, increasing the height of the boundary wall and installing boom barriers. Shatter-proof films have been used on windows to prevent the glass from falling if it breaks due to a blast. We also brief our security staff from time to time about measures to be followed when there’s emergency. Several mock drills by Delhi Police have also helped us,’’ said a hotel manager.

A hotel in Janpath has also deployed a dedicated security team to deal with terror attacks like the one in Mumbai. Hotel employees were also verified by the police before their appointment.

But the heavy security is costing the hotels dearly. ‘‘We are not able to rent out these rooms to other guests due to security constraints. Moreover, foreign tourists and top sports stars have stayed away due to negative publicity,’’ said a top manager of a five-star hotel.

Visitor Management System in every 5-star hotel

2010-10-10T10:34:00.001-07:00

Alleging Indiscipline 20 policemen Suspended

2010-10-10T10:33:00.000-07:00

Twenty policemen, who were on duty at various Commonwealth Games sites, have been suspended for alleged indiscipline and non-performance of duties, Delhi Police said on Saturday.

‘‘Some policemen have been suspended. Disciplinary action will be taken against them as per the rules for not performing their duties, indiscipline and laxity while they were deployed for the Games,’’ a senior police official said.

Of the 20 suspended policemen, eight were deployed at the Games Village, three at other venues and seven on transport and security duties.

Ticketing Incharge Removed: Probe Ordered

2010-10-10T10:32:00.000-07:00

All is obviously not well with the sale of tickets for the ongoing Commonwealth Games. There are too many questions and very few answers.

On Saturday, even as the organizing committee (OC) secretary-general and spokesperson , Lalit Bhanot, tried to play down the issue, reports of tickets and passes being sold in the black market were confirmed with two arrests. The OC also replaced Sanjeev Mittal, in-charge of the ticketing function in the OC, with his junior, Monica Jolly, and simultaneously shifted the ticketing operations out of the OC headquarters to Ashok Hotel.

However, with tickets largely remaining unavailable, the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) chief, Michael Fennell, ordered an independent inquiry into the entire issue. He said the report will come out on Sunday.

The OC, meanwhile, continued to play mum, preferring to talk about the ‘‘great turnout’’ at the venues all over the city. Asked if all tickets were sold out for the Games, Bhanot admitted that only 10 lakh tickets had been sold till date. So why aren’t the rest available to the public? Have they been converted into complimentary passes, as many feared when the rush for the Games started a few days ago?

Bhanot claimed that only 10% of the tickets sold every day were being distributed as complimentary passes. ‘‘Every day, the order for tickets to be printed for the next day are based on the number of tickets unsold the day before. In the beginning, since tickets were not selling, we distributed some regular tickets as complimentary passes,’’ said Bhanot. Interestingly, though, the number of complimentary passes hasn’t been brought down once sales picked up. Bhanot said, instead, more passes are being printed. Yet, tickets remain unavailable even as stands are not quite full.

According to Bhanot, this is not a critical issue. ‘‘The turnouts are getting better...Saturday and Sunday saw almost all venues getting a sizeable crowd. Some tickets may have ended up with touts but we can’t do anything about it,’’ said the secretary-general. Spectators don’t agree. Neither, it seems, does Fennell. Speaking at the daily press briefing, Fennell clearly disagreed, as he said, ‘‘If people go to the ticketing counters and they don’t get tickets, there is a problem.’’

That the issue of complimentary passes is headed for trouble is evident from the fact that many can be seen being sold by touts in the black market.

Sources at the venues claimed that the complimentary passes meant for the families of athletes, stakeholders and other VIPs never reach the venues till midway through the matches.

For instance, in the match at Talkatora Stadium yesterday, featuring Vijender Singh, baskets of complimentary passes were delivered to the venue for distribution more than halfway through the bout. Said an official posted at the venue, ‘‘The passes are of no use when they reach the venue at that time.’’

Visitors Denied Tickets But Touts are selling complimentary tickets

2010-10-10T10:31:00.000-07:00

If the stadiums were jam packed, you would have considered buying tickets in black a measure of the success of Commonwealth Games. But when ‘sold out’ events turn out to be sparsely attended and yet there are touts offering you tickets, you can conclude that there is something rotten here.

On Saturday, Delhi Police arrested two persons, including a woman, from Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and Siri Fort Stadium after allegedly catching them red handed, selling complimentary tickets in black.

Identified as Rekha (34), the woman is claimed to have told the police that she had sold 50 tickets of athletics on Thursday outside JLN Stadium. She was arrested outside Gate no 14 and 15 of the stadium while trying to sell complimentary tickets right outside the ticket counter in black.

Rekha told the police that the tickets were meant for free distribution among students and were given to her by a teacher of a school in Moti Nagar, where she is also employed. The tickets, claimed the police, had been given to this teacher by the father of national level swimmer Richa Mishra. Richa’s father had reportedly obtained the tickets from the organizing committee (OC) and distributed them in several schools. DCP (south) HGS Dhaliwal claimed that no record of the complimentary tickets could be recovered from either the accused or the school authorities.

Ninety-six complimentary tickets were seized from Rekha. These were for track and field events and included 11 tickets of Rs 500 denomination, 45 tickets of Rs 250 denomination and 40 tickets of Rs 100 denomination. Rekha was selling the tickets at double the price. She had allegedly sold several tickets on Thursday. ‘‘We are verifying her claim and trying to find out whether she has more tickets stashed away elsewhere,’’ said a senior police officer.

National level swimmer Richa Mishra said she had no knowledge of the incident. ‘‘My father teaches at the west Delhi school and he is not involved in any ticket case,’’ she said. All efforts to speak to her father directly proved futile.

A case of cheating has been registered at the Lodhi Colony police station. The arrest came following reports that tickets and complimentary passes were being sold in black market. The police is investigating the possibility of other persons being involved in the case.

The second arrest came hours after the woman was arrested a man identified as Sanjay Singhvi (28) was nabbed by cops outside Siri Fort. Singhvi is an honorary member of the OC and joined a few months back. The cops found 14 complimentary tickets in his possession which included nine of the hockey match between India and Pakistan and five of a squash match at Siri Fort. ‘‘He also told us that he had sold two tickets on Friday. We are verifying the source of these tickets,’’ said Dhaliwal.

Singhvi is a resident of Green Park and has a jewelry business. He has been booked and raids are being conducted at his office and residence to find out if he has stashed away more tickets. ‘‘Singhvi claimed that he had sold two tickets each at Rs 100. We have also contacted OC officials about his role in procuring the tickets. An accreditation card issued by OC was also found from his possession,’’ added a senior officer.

Shame on Indian Technology Power: Snag in Games website

2010-10-10T10:30:00.000-07:00

The Commonwealth Games official website has gone for a toss. Far from being uploaded automatically almost in real time, the website has been painfully slow, often well behind private media sites. This has virtually shut down an important window on the Delhi Games for the wider world.

The mess is the result of an expensive piece of technology, the Timing, Scoring & Results (TSR) system, a key requirement in modern sporting events. The system was procured by the Games OC for a stunning Rs 112 crore, which is five times more than what Melbourne paid for its TSR system at the last Commonwealth Games. Experts here say it could be bought for Rs 35 crore.

Now, after a week of complaints and with just five days to go, Infostrada, which provides comprehensive statistics and sports information services at the Games, will now launch a new website solely for the media’s use. This cock-up is seen as a huge embarrassment, especially as India prides itself on being a technology power. But the TSR system tripped up every day in the week the Games have been on, forcing Commonwealth Games Federation boss Mike Fennell to admit on Saturday to problems with the system.

USA, Japan in Commonwealth!

If you go by the Games official website, Korea, Japan, the Phillippines and even the US are participating nations! The Games are nearly a week old, but the errors are yet to be removed. Great Britain has been listed as a participating country, even though Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England are fielding separate teams.

FIND OF THE MEET SO FAR

Alicia Coutts of Australia
The 23-year-old won five gold: 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 200m individual medley and 2 relay events

IN THE RECORDS

Leisel Jones of Australia
equaled a CWG record tally of 10 gold held by Ian Thorpe and Susie O’Neill. Jones, 25, added 3 gold here: 100m, 200m breaststroke & 4x100 medley relay. She had won 3 gold at the 2002 and 4 at the 2006 Games

OTHER WINNERS

SILVER (1) Sania Mirza loses in tennis final
BRONZE (4) Suma Shirur and Kavita Yadav
(women’s 10m air rifle pairs)
Men’s TT team beat Nigeria 3-0, Harminder Singh (20 km walk), Monika Devi (75 kg)

Commonwealth Games Federation boss Mike Fennell finally admitted on Saturday that there were problems with the official Games website, which has failed to provide automatic updates and been virtually useless. The huge embarrassment, a result of the Timing, Scoring and Results (TSR) software bought by the Games OC for Rs 112crore, has resulted in Infostrada, which provides sports information services, being drafted in to launch a new website. “There have been glitches,” Fennell said. “With the help of Infostrada and Swiss Timing we are trying for an alternative solution to the problem.”

TSR system has been bought from Swiss Timing, one of the two companies that submitted a bid. The bid of the other company, MSL, was rejected on the grounds that it did not meet evaluation criteria. The Games technology team is headed by Harsh Kumar, who is finance professional. Insiders say that he has no one with him with any experience in handling real-time data. The failure of the Games Information System has left them all out of their depth. When contacted, Harsh Kumar insisted that there are no glitches in his system. His facile explanation was that ‘‘out of the 500 cameras, one camera wasn’t working properly at Ramjas College but that isn’t a venue.’’

The purpose of a TSR system is to enable timely dissemination of information, the lack of which has sent journalists covering these Games scrambling for information and data. Real-time data, such as medals won and timings, is crucial for the media and for regular updates on the website.

According to the experts, miscalculations in determining bandwidth output could be the reason behind the flop showing of the multicrore TSR systems.

At a daily monitoring meeting on October 5, attended by all government agencies involved in the Games and officials of the Games Federation, including Fennell and Suresh Kalmadi, it was cited by some members that there was a problem across all venues and at the Main Media Centre with the updating of results, as the medals tally was not updated. However, the bigwigs are said to have assured the meeting that all problems would be sorted out soon.

Top 3 Medal Scorers as on 09 October 2010

2010-10-09T09:25:00.000-07:00

Australia, India and England are the top scorers in the list:

Australia: Gold – 54, Silver – 30, Bronze - 31
India: Gold – 24, Silver – 17, Bronze – 17

England is just one gold medal behind India and has strong chances of becoming second top scorer in the Games

England: Gold – 23, Silver – 41, Bronze - 28

International Technical Officials Shifted to Hotels: Facing Commuting Problems

2010-10-09T09:24:00.000-07:00

When the organizing committee (OC) decided to move its international technical officials (ITO) from Vasant Kunj to different hotels in the NCR, it wouldn’t have thought its decision would come to haunt it later. Complaints from delegates about long wait for transport, combined with a long commute, have now forced the OC to re look at its transportation plans.

Said an official, ‘‘Delegates have been complaining about the wait for transport to the venues and back to hotels, especially since most have schedules starting really early in the day.’’ Sources say the logistics behind getting all the delegates to the venue and back to various hotels in the city is the root cause of the problem. With ITOs staying in 12 different hotels in Delhi and NCR, including Gurgaon and Faridabad, sources say picking up the ITOs and dropping them back is a long process every day. Interestingly, the delegates from a particular sport are not necessarily staying together, making it impossible for the vehicle to be confined to a single hotel.

Compounding the problem is the acute lack of drivers that the OC has been facing. Of the 2,200 that were to be provided to the OC by Tata motors, many left the OC hanging, disappearing midway through the first week itself. Now, the OC has hired over 500 drivers from schools in the city, hoping the drivers familiarity with the city will help them get the delegates faster from point A to B. Admitted Jiji Thomson, special DG, OC and in charge of transport, ‘‘The situation has improved tremendously from what it was last week. It should get even better over the next few days.’’ On Friday, Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) CEO, Mike Hooper, said no complaints had been received about transportation, hoping that the problem had been resolved.

Meanwhile, sources say that the lack of drivers has been a source of much aggravation for many delegates till date. The ITOs consisting of judges and other technical delegates were to be provided individual cars as part of the Games protocol. These were to be with them through the day, so that commuting between events and venues is easy. However, with few drivers around, many had to share the transport, leading them to wait for the cars as it ferried other delegates. Added the source, ‘‘Though monitoring of the cars is constant through GPS, there were instances when delegates had to wait for half to one hour for their transport.’’

On Friday though, the OC finally put 600 cars specifically for shared transport after new drivers were taken in, with another 300 being added to the T1 (individual) fleet.

Women 100m Medal Ceremony Delayed: Fennell blames officials

2010-10-09T09:23:00.000-07:00

CGF president Michael Fennell on Friday conceded that athletes were not treated well as the women’s 100m medal ceremony was delayed for hours on Thursday and blamed ‘‘a major communication blunder by athletics officials’’.

Australia’s Sally Pearson had completed her victory lap on Thursday and was set to collect her gold medal when she was told about her disqualification some three hours after crossing the line.

‘‘The athletes were waiting and didn’t know there was a protest. Treatment of the athletes is unsatisfactory and we are not happy with the way the protesting athletes were being handled. We have issued alerts that such incidents should not happen in future and such protests should be handled properly,’’ Fennell told media persons.

Fennell left fending off the blunders

Apart from admitting serious communication blunders following the controversial women’s 100m race, Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) chief Mike Fennell had other problems to fend off as it emerged that the scoreboard at the Rugby Sevens venue had collapsed. “We should not jump to conclusions without proper understanding of facts,” he said. “We are trying to know how it happened but it has been fixed.”

On the last-minute scramble to get permission for helicopters to cover cycling road race and marathon events, Fennell blamed it on “inexperience” of the organizers and said there was no Plan B if the request was turned down.

“Many cities have restricted areas, what is normally done is you get a waiver for the event. I’m pretty confident it should be obtained later in the day as everyone understands its importance.”

Central Delhi roads to remain closed on Sunday for Cyclothon

2010-10-08T06:40:00.000-07:00

Two days before the capital hosts a walk and cyclothon as part of the Commonwealth Games, work on the routes still remains. Delhiites can expect roadblocks in central Delhi on Sunday as cyclists will take part in the 165-km event. To facilitate the event, roads are going to be blocked off a night earlier. The events are scheduled on October 9, 10 and 14.

The affected roads for the main cyclothon event on October 10 include Vijay Chowk, Rajpath, Janpath, Rajendra Prasad Road, Red Cross Road, Parliament Street, Outer Circle, Barakhamba Road, Inner Circle, Minto Road, Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Marg, take a round around the CAG building before turning back on DDU Marg and continuing back on the same route till Vijay Chowk. The main road at DDU Marg, however, is yet to be re-laid. The civic agencies have completed the road relaying work.

Last-minute work like barricading, painting of central verges and other street furniture and horticulture work is being carried out at a frenzied pace. According to OC officials, all the necessary arrangements have been completed but last-minute cleaning up will continue till the event starts since it is taking place in an open area. Said Lalit Bhanot, secretary general of the OC: ‘‘Since the events are taking place in the open, one has to be very careful about security. All the work has been completed, last-minute checks will be carried out till the events begin.’’

The OC has finished barricading the entire route. In addition, changing rooms, broadcasting and recording rooms, lounges, toilets etc, are being set up along the route of the cyclothon. Some seating will also be provided along Sansad Marg. There is a power requirement of 3,000 kilowatts for this event.

The traffic police said the entire route of the cyclothon will be cordoned off for traffic starting from midnight a day earlier. ‘‘The cyclothon which has a 165km men’s event and a 100-km women’s event, will start at 9am and continue till 7pm. The roads will be blocked on midnight of October 9 and opened only after the event gets over,’’ said Satyendra Garg, joint commissioner of police (traffic). The cops will also divert buses along the route. Since the event is scheduled for a Sunday, the traffic police don’t expect much dislocation to traffic but blocking of roads could lead to inconvenience. Delhi Police has also set up 270 temporary CCTV cameras along the route. Rajeev Chowk, Central Secretariat and Patel Chowk Metro stations will also remain closed from 6 am to 6 pm.

The walk scheduled on October 9 will affect movement of traffic at Sansad Marg and Parliament Street. The traffic police plan to block movement of all traffic on the roads from midnight on October 8. The walk will start at 6.30am and will continue till 8am after which the roads will be opened. The route starts at RBI building and continues straight for 1km till Outer Circle and back.

On October 14, the day of the closing ceremony, a marathon will be held. It will start at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and tour the city. Even as roads will be closed for this, it is not expected to lead to jams since it’s a public holiday.

Tajmahal prime attraction for athletes

2010-10-08T06:39:00.001-07:00

The Delhi Games experience is expanding beyond the city for many of the athletes who have come to India. Sources in the organizing committee (OC) say one of the most popular outlets in the Games Village is turning out to be the Games Travel Office, and specifically for the Agra trip conceptualized by the OC.

A senior official said, ‘‘Since Day One, there has been a lot of interest in the Agra trip despite the bad publicity the Games was receiving.’’ The numbers certainly speak for themselves during the past two trips, over 300 athletes have already been on the train. Run by Northern Railways, the trip which takes two-and-a-half hours either way it seems to have caught the fancy of many athletes. Already, a list of over 200 athletes has been drawn up for the trip scheduled for October 9. Admits Manish Tiwari, chief PRO of Northern Railways, which is the operational partner of the OC for the Agra trip, ‘‘The feedback has been extremely positive. The service has been especially appreciated.’’

It’s not surprising to find out why. The trip, lasting through the day, has a full sight-seeing schedule for the athletes, organized by IRCTC. The actual train journey, which has all the works liveried service staff and the specially-crafted menu for the guests. Perhaps the most exciting is a running commentary not only for the special Taj experience, but also through the journey with snippets about the history of various cities the train passes through Delhi, Faridabad, Mathura, Vrindavan and of course, Agra.

The train, which has nine coaches, has been specially wrapped in the Delhi Games colors on the outside while the inside has large panels with photographs of Indian sports persons, mostly from the Railways, besides heritage and culture, historical places such as Red Fort, Victoria Memorial, etc, and a panel on railway heritage — old steam engines, insignia of old princes and the like. Adds Tiwari, ‘‘There are eight trips planned from October 6-16. The train won’t run on only three days October 8, 14 and 15.’’

Elaborate security arrangements have, however, meant that athletes don’t really get off the designated track. Said Niel, an athlete from England, ‘‘I have heard a lot about the country as my mother came here on Christmas. But till now, it seems only Agra will be possible, as security is very strict for us. I’ll wait till after the Games to explore.’’

For Cycling Event Noida e-way to Remain closed for 3 days

2010-10-08T06:38:00.000-07:00

If you thought the four-hour closure of both carriageways on the Noida Expressway for the past two weeks was not bad enough, wait till October 10. According to Noida police, while the carriageway connecting Noida to Greater Noida will be shut entirely on the expressway from 8am on October 10, the other carriageway linking Greater Noida to Noida will be closed infinitely from October 11. This blockade will remain till the time trial CWG cycling event gets over on October 13.

The decision comes after a review of the security at the expressway. Sources said the measure was taken to allow security agencies to check the entire route and enforce a lock-down after this event was termed as one of the most risky ones as it is a road race on open grounds. NSG has asked for more time to deploy their forces while IAF helicopters are getting ready to provide air cover. The police said they will be closing the service and slip roads on both sides of the expressway leading to blockade of residential offices and IT offices.

‘‘We are in constant touch with the OC. However, on Sunday, we will carry a full dress rehearsal with dummy cars and other vehicles,’’ said SP (Noida Traffic) Ajay Sahdev.

Glitch in RF Ticket Readers: Many Denied Entry in the Stadium

2010-10-08T06:36:00.002-07:00

You may have a ticket for your favorite Commonwealth sports event, but this doesn’t necessarily mean your entry to the stadium will be hassle-free. After several spectators complained that they faced problems while entering the stadium as the radio frequency ticket-readers failed to recognize the tickets Delhi Police conducted an internal inquiry which has detected a major problem in the central system set up by ECIL.

While some ticket-holders were turned away as their names could not be found in the system, many others whose names were displayed on the system who had accreditation were forced to go back as their pictures were not uploaded on the system.

ECIL officers, however, said these were only minor glitches which were promptly taken care of by their engineers. ‘‘We will sort out all the problems in the next couple of days. There are multiple agencies involved and it is a matter of time before all systems get perfectly integrated,’’ said an officer.

According to cops, these glitches were a result of the frequent failure of the LAN network connecting all the machines to the venue server and the WAN network connecting the central ECIL server with the venue servers. Networking professionals attribute the problem to ‘‘unstable and insufficient bandwidth’’ that is causing the WAN network to snap. Due to the same, photographs from the central server are not getting uploaded on venue servers.

Cops point out that the company never went for a ‘‘stabilization’’ process or trial run of the setup. ‘‘In any technical setup, there are always some teething troubles. So, a test run is important to identify the problems and come up with solutions before the actual process starts,’’ explained a senior police official, who did not wish to be named.

What complicates matters is that the installation of the system was worked out by multiple agencies for wiring, placing the switches and supplying power. This seems to have resulted in problems in integration, claimed the official. Cops now want the company to upload photos of spectators from its central server to the venue servers and then download the entire data on the laptop to ensure availability of updated data on individual venue servers.

ECIL, meanwhile, blamed Delhi Police for the hitches, claiming the data came late because of which uploading all of it in time became difficult. The cops denied this saying all the data had been first given to the company by the organizing committee on CDs. ‘‘We only got the updated data,’’ said a Delhi police officer.

Delhi University Hostels Still Waiting for Tourists

2010-10-08T06:36:00.001-07:00

Seeing empty rooms at Delhi University hostels, it is hard to believe that the Commonwealth Games is in full swing. The hostels, which students vacated so that room could be made for tourists who were expected to arrive in Delhi during the Games, are still waiting for guests.

Except for nine visitors at Miranda House, who came for the opening ceremony and left on Thursday, there are no official guests or backpackers taking up accommodation in these hostels, which were especially renovated for the Games. In a bid to salvage the situation, UGC last week slashed the room rates by around 50% but even that failed to attract any guests. Meanwhile, nearly 2000 students who were told to vacate the hostels continue to pay through their nose for private accommodations in area near DU.

At Daulat Ram College, four Nigerians turned up for accommodation last week. But they stayed in the hostel only for two days. According to college sources, DU officials later found out the foreigners were not visiting for the Games but had come to the city for a conference. The hostel warden could not be contacted despite several attempts.

On Thursday, these budget accommodations were all empty and college officials were not expecting any guests. Among the three venues Hindu College, Lady Shri Ram and Jamia University where volunteers from Sports Authority of India were supposed to stay, only in Jamia there is some action with the other two hostels wearing a deserted look.

In DU, Hindu was the college where guests were almost certain to come. SAI was supposed to allot rooms at Hindu hostel to its volunteers. But that never happened. ‘‘We are ready with our renovated rooms but guests have not showed up so far. SAI had earlier planned to accommodate about 1,000 volunteers in Jamia hostel and ours. But only half of volunteers could get accreditation. All of them are staying in Jamia,’’ said Warden Chandrachud Singh. ‘‘We clean the hostel every day just to make sure that we are ready if someone shows up at our doors.’’

Added Rajendra Prasad, principal of Ramjas College, where 200 beds are available for Games guests, ‘‘We haven’t received any list of guests from the Games travel office yet. And I don’t think there will be any guests coming our way now.’’

The colleges aren’t really complaining. ‘‘Who will come to DU hostels to stay during the Games? Our hostels have become really swanky but we are still waiting to see if any tourist arrives,’’ said Bhim Sen Singh, principal of Kirori Mal College. ‘‘Probably, nobody will come but this deal with the OC has been a blessing in disguise. Our hostel is ready with new infrastructure. Besides rooms and furnishings, the kitchen of the hostel has become clean and up market.’’

It’s the same story at Shri Ram College of Commerce, where all rooms have marble flooring. Principal P C Jain said: ‘‘We slashed rates to suit the budget of different travelers. Where else will you get such accommodation at such a cheap rate?. He added that guests are not coming but it doesn’t bother him. ‘‘We are happy that students will stay in a better place after the Games,’’ said Jain.

New Zealand Apologizes for Racist Remark on CM

2010-10-08T06:34:00.002-07:00

Angered by a Kiwi TV anchor’s comments ridiculing Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit, India on Thursday summoned New Zealand high commissioner Rupert Holborow while strongly and unequivocally denouncing the ‘‘racist’’ remarks. Holborow was quick to express regret for the remarks by TVNZ presenter Paul Henry, describing them as vulgar and culturally insensitive.

Issuing a strong demarche, the government said it was shocking that such bigoted views were aired by a representative of a mainstream media organization of a multi-ethnic democracy like New Zealand.

‘‘These remarks are totally unacceptable to India and should be condemned by all right thinking people and nations. It is hoped that the government of New Zealand would take immediate demonstrative action against the said individual to send out a clear signal that such behavior is totally unacceptable,’’ a statement issued by the foreign ministry said.

According to the government, Holborow conveyed deep regret for the hurt caused by the comments which he characterized as culturally insensitive, inappropriate and vulgar and certainly not the views of the government of New Zealand. He also acknowledged the ‘‘vital contribution’’ of the Delhi CM to the Commonwealth Games.

The Indian high commissioner in New Zealand has also taken up this matter with the New Zealand government. On Thursday, the New Zealand high commission had organized a lunch in honor of Governor-general Sir Anand Satyanand but Indian officials kept away from the event.

‘‘These remarks were culturally insensitive, inappropriate and vulgar. They reflect the views of only one media commentator (who has already been censored for other racist and unacceptable comments), and certainly not the New Zealand government or people,’’ Holborow later said in a statement.

It was a double whammy for Henry as he had just been suspended by TVNZ for two weeks for a racial slur at the country’s Indian-origin governor-general Satyanand.

During a TVNZ programme on Monday, Henry asked Prime Minister John Key whether Anand was a New Zealander. When Key told him that Anand was a New Zealander, Henry asked if he was going to pick someone who looked more like a New Zealander next time.

Henry’s jibe at Dikshit was equally disgusting, if not worse. ‘‘The dip shit woman. God, what’s her name? Dick Shit. Is it Dick Shit... it looks like dick shit,’’ he said on his breakfast show. It did not end there though. ‘‘It’s so appropriate, because she’s Indian, so she’d be dick-in-shit wouldn’t she, do you know what I mean? Walking along the street... it’s just so funny,’’ he went on.

Talking to a news channel, Dikshit later said, ‘‘I don’t know what the reasons are but I think they are being... in diplomacy they don’t use this kind of words. Our students have also been suffering there. I really don’t know. It’s for the government of India, the MEA to take note of all this and give them an appropriate request or action.’’

3 More Gold in India’s Bag

2010-10-08T06:34:00.001-07:00

Nigerian Osayemi Oludamola won a controversial 100m women’s race after Aussie Sally Pearson was disqualified and Jamaica’s Leron Clarke continued his country’s dominance of the men’s event even as India celebrated a day of firsts.

While shooting continued to prove a gold mine, with a gold double coming at the ranges, India’s 10-medal count which kept the hosts at second spot in the overall tally included two special ones. Geeta Phogat the eldest of five wrestler sisters from Balali village in Haryana’s Bhiwani district won India’s first women’s wrestling gold at the Games in the 55kg freestyle.

Nineteen-year-old Ashish Kumar won India’s first gymnastics medal at a major meet, when he landed bronze in the floor exercises.

Pistol shooter Gurpreet Singh too, will remember Day Four for a long time. First, he partnered Vijay Kumar for the 25m rapid fire pairs title and then stood alongside Omkar Singh to take home the 10m air pistol pairs gold.

It was not so rosy for India in men’s hockey, where Australia beat Jose Brasa’s men 5-2. In tennis, favourites Leander Paes and Sania Mirza were stunned by Scots Colin Fleming and Jocelyn Rae.

10-MEDAL HAUL India stayed overall 2nd with 3 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze medals on Thursday.

Ashish Kumar first Indian gymnast to win a CWG medal

SILVER Ronjan Sodhi (double trap shooting), Nirmala Devi (48kg women’s freestyle wrestling), C Jignas, Ritul Chatterjee & Chinna Raju Srither (men’s team compound, archery) BRONZE Ashish Kumar (gymnastics, floor exercise), Suman Kundu (63kg women’s freestyle wrestling), Sudhir Kumar (77kg weightlifting), Bheigyabati Chanu, Jhano Hansdah & Gagandeep Kaur (women’s team compound, archery)

Games Schedule for 8 and 9 October 2010

2010-10-08T06:31:00.000-07:00

The Basements of Games Village still in Deep Water

2010-09-28T04:53:00.000-07:00

Despite several rain-free days in the capital, the basements at the Games Village continue to be waterlogged. MCD officials said they were trying to drain out water but porous soil was making the task difficult. Officials said damp basements may lead to mosquito breeding and could lead to dengue cases inside the Village.

Sources said even though there are only puddles of water in the basements of towers 1 to 9, two basements that lie under the towers 10 to 34 are still waterlogged.

‘‘We keep pumping out water, but it oozes out through the soil over the basements. Till this soil, put up for plantation, does not dry up, the basements will continue to face problems of water stagnation. Since the basements are at a lower level than the Yamuna, water had entered during the flooding,’’ said an official.

MCD officials claim they are spraying antilarvae chemicals in the basements but it may not be much help. Said an official: ‘‘We keep spraying anti-larvicide in the basement but with water being pumped out continuously, the entire purpose is defeated.’’

Added Dr V K Monga, chairman of MCD public health committee, ‘‘We are taking all precautionary measures to prevent breeding. Fogging is being carried daily and our staff is working to drain out water from the basements.’’

Experts said that damp basements pose a health risk. Said Dr Bir Singh, head of community medicine at AIIMS, ‘‘The subsoil water collected in the basement can be an ideal space for mosquito breeding. It can cause vector-borne diseases like dengue and malaria.’’ He added mosquito breeding is common on the Yamuna riverbed.

Sources said the state government has now approached Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) for assistance in draining out the water. ‘‘We have received a request. Water is seeping into the lifts. We have already worked out a plan for it,’’ confirmed a DMRC spokesperson.

A little Relief for Organizing Committee as 500 athletes arrive in the Games Village

2010-09-28T04:52:00.000-07:00

It was a relatively sunny start of the week for the Delhi Games 2010, with the intense work in the Games Village showing visible results. While the scenario seemed to be brighter sources said that the number of uninhabitable rooms which had been put at 150 is now only 30-40 rooms both team delegates as well as athletes admitted that the Village had improved significantly. The best news for the organizing committee (OC), however, was the arrival of another batch of over 500 athletes from various countries for the Games.

The day wasn’t without its controversies however. The comments made by Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) CEO, Mike Hooper, continued to create ripples on Monday, with Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit calling it ‘‘unkind’’ and ‘‘undiplomatic’’. However, Hooper received strong backing from CGF boss Mike Fennell, who insisted that the New Zealander neither blamed the Indian government nor made any disparaging comments about India’s vast population being responsible for traffic snarls as was reported in the media. ‘‘Far from any emotive commentary, Mr Hooper merely
stated the fact that the responsibility for delivering and operating the Games lies with authorities in India, as per the Host City contract,’’ said Fennell in a statement.

The mood was better in the Village though, with both the Delhi government and OC claiming that extensive repairs had been done in the Village. Dikshit was scathing in her assessment of the state of the Village as handed over by DDA and the developer, Emaar MGF. ‘‘We inherited it (the Village) in a very difficult situation,’’ she said. ‘‘I do hope at the end of it, everything will be all right...of course there are some seepages which the builder and the DDA should have looked at earlier,’’ Dikshit who has been personally monitoring the ‘clean-up operation’ at the Village said. She, however, refused to put a deadline to when the work would be complete in the Village. DDA was also criticized by cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar and several top officials of the OC and Delhi government at the meeting on Sunday, sources said.

The OC meanwhile seemed to have shifted its operation to the Village, with most of the important meetings taking place there. The stock-taking exercise with the CGF, OC and Delhi government saw several issues being discussed including transportation. ‘‘Almost all the people have entered (the Village) ... There are small problems relating to transportation that we are sorting out,’’ added Kalmadi.

The day also saw the formal flag hoisting ceremony of team Scotland and Norfolk at the Games Village. The arrival of over 500 athletes from England (61), Australia (59) and Canada (30), Scotland (77) and South Africa (113) was also seen. The reaction from those who checked into the Village was mixed, with the Scots remaining sceptical while the Aussies were happy. ‘‘I am not concerned at all because once people get here they will want to be a part of the Commonwealth Games experience,’’ Australian chef de mission Steve Moneghetti said.

Meanwhile, South African high commissioner, Harris Mbulelo Mejeke, who had claimed to find a snake in the accommodation provided for his country’s team on Sunday, took a different stance, saying things were ‘‘unlike’’ what he saw during his previous visit. ‘‘Everything has been addressed. They are finishing up and everything will be all right,’’ he added.

Always Carry an ICard if You Are Going Near any Games Venues

2010-09-28T04:50:00.000-07:00

The latest piece of advice from the cops is that you should carry an ID-card if you are going anywhere near the Commonwealth Games Village or the venues either for official work or in an emergency. Police say this will save people any hassle at security checkpoints.

‘‘There will be extensive police presence in and around the stadiums round the clock. We are aware that there will be constant movement of hundreds of citizens as several offices and residential complexes are located in the vicinity of these stadiums. So it will be wise to carry an ID proof so that people can explain to us where they plan to go,’’ said an officer in-charge of security at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Several offices function out of the CGO and Scope Complex area at Lodhi Colony right across JN Stadium. ‘‘If we ask someone the purpose of his visit, an official ID-card will help establish not only the identity of the person, but also the purpose of the visit,’’ added the officer. The offices are expected to remain closed only on the opening and closing days of the event.

The cops assure no one will be unduly harassed. ‘‘Not everyone has to carry an IDcard. This is a free country that allows free movement of people. Except where there are specific restrictions, we will not stop anyone from moving around. But police has the right to question any suspicious character and merely possessing an I-card is no guarantee that a person will not be questioned,’’ added the officer.

The Noida police and Gurgaon police, too, have advised residents on similar grounds. ‘There are a number of IT offices on both sides of the Noida Expressway. We have requested all employees who will be attending offices during the practice sessions and the main cycling event to show their ID cards during any spot checks,’’ said a senior Noida police officer. He added that on their specific request, a few IT companies have even tweaked their office timings ‘‘allowing us to shut down the Noida Expressway from 10.30am to 2.30pm till October 13 when the time trial cycling event is scheduled.

Street Vendors and Hawkers to go During Games

2010-09-28T04:49:00.000-07:00

Finding vegetable vendors or going to the local dhaba is becoming an increasingly difficult task in the city. In an attempt to clean up the capital and also rule out security threats before the Games, civic agencies, along with Delhi Police, are going all out to remove ‘‘illegal’’ vendors across the city.

The agencies claim that the drive is not related to the Games and was, in fact, launched in June this year as routine action. However, it’s only in the past few days that the drive has been intensified and its effect felt all over the city. According to estimates by MCD, there are over one lakh ‘‘illegal’’ vendors in the city. ‘‘Only 5% to 10% of the vendors selling food items on Delhi’s roads have a licence,’’ said an MCD official. Paan shops and cobblers too are being targeted.

They are being removed from all across the city. Reports have been coming in from areas like Dwarka, Vasant Kunj, GK-II, Defence Colony, Lodhi Colony, Lajpat Nagar, Paharganj, Karol Bagh, Chandni Chowk etc. While many vendors have quietly left the city, some are resisting the drive.

Anil, who owns a paan shop in Paharganj, said he has been asked to shift his shop several times since September 20 but he keeps turning up everyday as he has a family of five to support. ‘‘I’ve been told by the police and MCD to shut shop till October 15. If I do that, how will my family survive?’’ he asks.

A policeman near the Paharganj market lamented they were not being very effective.

‘‘We don’t have enough staff to ensure sustained action. Most of our officers are stationed at the venues,’’ he said. The situation was similar in Lajpat Nagar where vendors have refused to go away.

The so-called anti-encroachment drive is inconveniencing people in other ways too. ‘‘A special vegetable market is held in Dwarka every Sunday. But we were told by the vendors that they would not be coming from October 1 to October 17 because of the Games. Apparently, the police have clamped a ban on the bazaar due to security issues. We don’t know what to do now as this market is the only source for vegetables and fruits here,’’ said Shivani Bhattacharya, a resident of Dwarka.

The sweeping nature of this drive can be gauged from the fact that even the Sai Baba temple on Lodhi Road has not been spared. The front gate has been closed to ensure there are no crowds or traffic jams. Now, a side gate gives people access to the shrine. Said a police officer: ‘‘The flower shops around the temple area will remain closed during the Games.’’

Flower shops and small grocery shops have been shut down at GK-II’s M-block market. In Vasant Kunj, people actually signed petitions to prevent removal of a popular chaatwallah but to no avail. ‘‘People are being terrorised in the name of the Games. I wanted to get my shoes repaired and was unable to find a single cobbler in the area,’’ said Shabana Sinha, a resident of Lodhi Road.

In some areas, vendors with valid permissions are also being sent packing if they happen to fall along the route of a Games event.

‘‘We are removing all encroachments on public land along with Delhi Police,’’ said MCD’s press and information director, Deep Mathur. ‘‘The encroachment drive is part of regular action and has nothing to do with the Games.’’ NDMC officials say the same for record.

NO BUSINESS ON ROAD

Number of illegal vendors in city Over 1 lakh
Only 5-10% of vendors selling food on capital roads have the requisite licence, according to MCD. Illegal vendors include vegetable and fruit sellers, pan shops, small shops selling clothes, flower shops, cobblers

THE TARGETS

MCD and NDMC are removing illegal dhabas as part of the hygiene drive ahead of the Games. MCD has also launched a crackdown on vendors selling street food

Some legal dhabas in certain areas are also being shut down for the period of the Games as they are located on routes leading to Games venues

WHAT AUTHORITIES SAY Civic agencies claim the anti-encroachment drive is a routine exercise and it has nothing to do with the Games

Delhi Police says illegal vendors not only pose a security threat but also cause unnecessary crowding on roads

Homeless and Poor Lost their Livelihood Due to Games Cleanup

2010-09-28T04:48:00.000-07:00

Hundreds of homeless and poor in the city have lost their meagre livelihood courtesy the clean-up drive ahead of Commonwealth Games. Authorities have been rounding up beggars from the roads and outside temples, and many others have been caught by the cops at traffic intersections.

A balloon seller, Hira, fears she will have to go hungry for days. ‘‘Many have already left the city. The authorities have made no arrangements at the shelters where they are asking us to stay put,’’ she says. The message to the downtrodden is clear: don’t step out, lest the Games visitors spot you.

Delhi Police claims it is not carrying out any drive to clear the roads of beggars and has only provided a team of 25 personnel to the social welfare department for whatever action it takes to prevent beggary. The social welfare department, meanwhile, was not forthcoming with details and simply gave out a figure of 1300-odd beggars who have been rounded up since January. The department has come under criticism for not being able to work out a human solution to the problem of begging. It has failed to create a mechanism in which beggars can be productively involved in other tasks.

But even as the cops and the city government claim they are not carrying out any aggressive drive, one can see the beggars and homeless gradually disappearing. While a number of them have fled the city out of fear, those who are still in the midst of the storm are on vigil, always looking out for cops or the vehicle from Sewa Kutir which apprehends beggars. Hanuman Mandir complex is a case in point. Here, the number of beggars has significantly gone down but vagabonds can still be seen lost in deep slumber in the nearby subway. Hira, who lost her child last year after the MCD demolished a night shelter to beautify a park at the Pusa Road roundabout, now lives with 450 other homeless at a 24-hour MCD shelter in Motia Khan. For over a fortnight now, the men and women who sell balloons at traffic signals are being shooed away by the officials. As many are afraid to step out of the shelters set up by the civic agencies and run by NGOs, the homeless, beggars and destitute are already facing a food crisis.

Raju, another balloon seller, pointed out that he has six children and is now left with no money to buy food for them. Another inmate, Suresh, complained that he had been left without any means of sustenance. Kishan Lal’s grandmother died at the shelter on Sunday but he didn’t have the money for cremation. Finally, the others somehow pitched in for the last rites. A similar situation exists at the shelter at Kilokri near Ashram.

‘‘More and more people are taking refuge in shelters because they are afraid of being caught by the police or the anti-beggary squads which are very much on the job. The result is that these people have run out of money and now fear that hunger will strike soon. Even those on the streets are facing this issue,’’ Indu Prakash Singh, an expert on urban poverty and homelessness from Indo-Global Social Service Society, said.

The society on Monday, as part of the ‘City makers’ campaign, issued an urgent appeal to other civil society networks to come forward to help with ration supplies which can be distributed at the shelter homes.

Now Government to Pay for Meals for Doctors on Games Duty

2010-09-28T04:47:00.000-07:00

With the organizing committee failing to provide food to doctors and paramedics posted at various Games venues, the state health department has decided to take up the task. The department is planning to give Rs 150-200 per day for food to medical staff on Games duty.

Initially, it was the responsibility of the organizing committee to provide food to the workforce. Since September 21, Directorate of Health Services (DHS) has been bombarded with complaints from doctors and paramedics about poor facilities at various venues. ‘‘We have been told that our staff doesn’t even have access to coffee machines. Due to security concerns, they are not allowed to take food inside the venues and OC has made no arrangements. If they are on duty for eight to nine hours, we must provide them with sufficient food items,’’ said a senior government official.

Sources say that at such a short notice, it is difficult to make arrangements for 2000-odd staff. Moreover, officials say, the food items will be scanned at ITPO due to security concerns and then sent to different venues. ‘‘Chances are that the food will get spoilt and we don’t know whether it will be given to them on time or not,’’ said an official.
With less than a week left for the Games, DHS is planning to reimburse doctors and other medical staff for food. ‘‘We are thinking of giving Rs 150-200 per day to all the medical staff on Games duty for food,” said Dr S K Bhattacharjee, director health services, Delhi government.

Doctors posted at almost all venues, including those posted at T3 of IGI airport, are complaining of poor facilities. Sources say those posted on Games duty at the medical centre in T3 are given nothing. ‘‘They have not been given any transport to reach T3. Most of them are spending close to Rs 400 to reach the airport. We are also told that as OC is not providing them food, they are forced to buy it from the airport,’’ said a health official.

Helping Hand From Oil ministry: Offers to Buy Rs 10cr Games ads

2010-09-28T04:46:00.000-07:00

Helping Hand From Oil ministry: Offers to Buy Rs 10cr Games ads

The Commonwealth Games Village on Monday had an unusual visitor in oil minister Murli Deora, who went to the site to take stock of fuel supplies. The minister directed gas utility, GAIL, to help out the organizers with 200 guards for keeping a watch on equipment and material.

On Friday, Deora had taken the CEOs of flagship oil firms under his ministry to meet CM Sheila Dikshit to offer “support” for her efforts. He ordered the oil companies to buy Rs 10 crore worth airtime from Doordarshan, which has the exclusive telecast rights to the Games but has been struggling for sponsors.

“My visit is to show solidarity with the Games, its organizers and the Delhi government. Hosting such event is an honor and as Indians we should be proud of it. It is a national event. I went to see three apartments. They are looking clean. Things have improved,” Deora said.

The minister said he found some issues regarding diesel supplies to the Village and asked IndianOil chairman, B M Bansal, to sort it out with his executives on the spot.

Awaiting Inspection Metro is Ready to Serve on Badarpur line

2010-09-28T04:45:00.000-07:00

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is gearing up to open two new Metro lines Central Secretariat to Badarpur and Airport Express Line by the end of this month. On Monday, train trial runs on the Badarpur line were extended till the Sarita Vihar train depot.

The corporation is awaiting a date for inspection of the line by the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS), for which all the required documentation has been submitted. The CMRS inspection of the Airport line was started on Monday and a date for opening of the section is expected to be announced on Tuesday.

According to sources, the Airport line is expected to begin during this week.

Two stations on the line, Dhaula Kuan and Delhi Aerocity, will not be opened for public use as the concessionaire for the line has been unable to complete them. The Badarpur line is expected to be inspected by the CMRS around September 29 and opened a day or two later.

Meanwhile, on Monday, train trials on Badarpur line were extended till the Sarita Vihar depot after the Overhead Electrification (OHE) lines were electrified by DMRC. ‘‘Now, the trains are running to Jasola and Sarita Vihar stations too, covering a distance of 15 kms out of total 20 kms. Construction of the last section of the line is underway,’’ said a DMRC spokesperson. Till now, trial runs were being done till Okhla Metro station.

All the documentation for CMRS inspection of the line has been submitted and a final date for inspection is likely to be announced on Tuesday. DMRC clarified that the 20.16-km long line will be opened before the Commonwealth Games.

Limited Seats Making it Hard for VIPs to be in Royal Box Seating List

2010-09-28T04:44:00.000-07:00

Having failed on all fronts, the Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee (OC) and the Delhi Police decided to pull out all stops to at least make the opening and closing ceremonies a grand event. But here, too, there’s a hitch.

The royal box at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium has 100 seats where President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prince Charles will be seated, along with other heads of nations. However, bureaucrats are lobbying to get their names included in the list of VVIPs who will be seated in the royal box. This has delayed finalization of the list.

The Delhi Police, which should have got the final list by now considering just six days remain for the Games, is still waiting as the OC and bureaucrats are making last minute changes. The police said they were in touch with the OC regarding the status of seat allotment. Due to limited seats, even the VVIPs have been given seats for only themselves and their spouses, said an OC official. The royal box is opposite gate number one and those who will be seated there will be allowed till there with their cars. From gate number one, all VVIP will be escorted inside the stadium. Due to security concerns, the royal box is not being handled by the local police. The security branch of Delhi Police, which provides security to VVIPs in the city, and, the Special Protection Group (SPG) have been entrusted with the job. An officer of the rank of ACP will be in charge of security.

Out of the 100 seats inside the royal box, 35 will be given to Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) officials. ‘‘A few of the remaining seats will be used by SPG and Delhi Police security officers who will be seated with the VVIPs. It will be one of the highest-secured zones inside the stadium. On the opening and closing days, the vehicles of only the VVIPs will be allowed and all the MPs have been asked to come in a bus which will drop them inside the stadium,” said a police officer.

Inside the stadium, there is parking space for only 489 vehicles. On the days of the opening and closing ceremonies, parking space for 250 vehicles will be kept for the buses which will ferry delegates, MPs, embassy officials and others. The police have planned a full-dress rehearsal at the stadium between 5am and 1pm on Tuesday.

Diversions and Curbs on roads around Nehru Stadium

2010-09-28T04:43:00.000-07:00

If you are working or living near Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium the venue for the opening and closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games get set for diversions and roadblocks in the area as part of security arrangements. From Tuesday, the traffic police will restrict movement of vehicles on roads around Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The restrictions will affect those headed to areas like CGO complex, Pragati Vihar hostel and Lodhi Colony.

Traffic bound for CGO complex and Pragati Vihar hostel will not be allowed from Bhishma Pitamah Marg on J N Stadium road. All vehicles will have to take the route via Lodhi Road. Those headed to Electronic Niketan, Soochna Bhawan, Scope Building complex and MTNL can only access these areas through Lala Lajpat Rai Marg. ‘‘No vehicles including those of paramilitary forces will be allowed on Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium road between Bhishma Pitamah Marg to Scope Complex crossing. Only those with parking labels, issued by the security wing of the concerned office, will be allowed to enter the office complexes. No unlabelled vehicles will be allowed to enter the parking lots,’’ said Satyendra Garg, joint commissioner of police (traffic).

Cops would not allow anyone to park vehicles on the J N Stadium road, Scope Tower, CGO complex or MTNL road. Heavy vehicles, including buses and trucks will be banned on the stadium road. They can use Lala Lajpat Rai Marg and Lodhi Road and drop passengers at the Lodhi Road petrol pump or near the NBCC bus stop. Those residing in Type-V flats at Lodhi Road will be allowed entry from Lodhi Colony side after taking a left turn on Bhishma Pitamah Marg. ‘‘The restrictions will be in effect from September 28 to October 14, 2010. In view of restrictions, officials are requested to use car pools, Metro trains and public transport to avoid congestion in the area,’’ Garg added.

A New Pain for Commuters as Games trial begins

2010-09-28T04:42:00.000-07:00

With the movement of over 1,600 Bluelines curtailed on 139 routes, bus commuters faced a harrowing time on Monday.

The waiting time at bus stops in east, northeast south and central Delhi was as high as one hour on some routes and commuters could be seen hanging from buses during the office hours. Transport department officials claimed they are putting more buses on the roads to meet the passenger demand and relief can be expected in the next 1-2 days. The Bluelines will be back after the Games on October 16.

During office hours, major bus stops in the affected areas could be seen overflowing with passengers. People complained of long waits for buses and increased travel time. ‘‘I waited for one hour to get a bus on route 445 from Kailash Colony to get to ITO. Normally, I get a bus within 10 minutes but the wait didn’t seem to end on Monday,’’ said Dipak Jha, a Central government employee.

Even those who were fortunate enough to get a bus had to brave crowd or hang from footboards. ‘‘I could barely breathe in the DTC bus I took on route 511. I was forced to get off two stops later and took an auto back to Sarita Vihar,’’ said Swati Kedarnath, a student of south campus. On routes where DTC services were good earlier, commuters felt the pinch in the afternoon when the number of buses were fewer. Delhi Metro recorded a rider ship of 12.62 lakh, which is about 65,000 more than usual.

The government, meanwhile, contended that over 4,140 DTC buses were plying on Delhi roads on Monday, highest ever run by the corporation and an addition of about 2,000 over the normal. But despite that, buses ran packed to capacity on certain routes. Officials claimed the main issue with Bluelines is that the actual number of buses plying on lucrative routes is different from what exists in the records of the transport department. So even after the government put more buses on the roads, commuters felt a shortage.

‘‘There were problems on some of the routes in the morning which are being addressed. We put more buses on routes in Laxmi Nagar and Dhaula Kuan where problems were reported. There is no shortage of buses. The system just needs to be fine tuned. We expect situation will be fine in 1-2 days,’’ said Arvinder Singh Lovely, transport minister.

The transport department held a meeting with Bluelines operators and took a decision to give them alternative routes in rural areas in place of their existing permits for NDMC areas. But according to sources, barely 12 operators have come forward for this.

In all, Bluelines were totally phased out from 68 routes including 490, 544, 512, 413, 280, 281, 378, 391, 680, 309, 26, 729, 364, 501, 503, 621, 533, 502, 543, 611, 703, 500, 520, 580, 548, 540, 47, 894, 894A, 118, 306, 307, 301, 301A, 455, 415, 422, 403, 405, 405A, 409, 425, 425A, 425L, 429, 435, 435L, 438, 445, 449, 460, 433, 507, 507A, 473, 770, 781, 727, 411, 419A, 423A, 427, 440, 463, 469, 522A, 534, 450, 604, 610, 620, 615, 581, 511, 505.

Another 71 routes were curtailed and buses had to turn around from a point near Games zones. Such routes included 375, 536, 984A, 567, 442, 447, 529, 320, 340, 350, 951, 957, 966, 980, 784, 944, 19+19A, 39, 166, 910, 940, 943, 970, GL-90, 181, 410, MS(+)(-), TMS (+)(-) Mudrika route, 990, 990 Extra, 85, 261, 313, 851, 871, 308, 711, 724, 810, 874, 588, 740, 100, 172, 568, 569, 918, GL91, 335, 516, 517, 519, 523, 374, 317, 725, 623, 578, 790A, 214, 214A, 246, 901, 216, 350, 358, 448A, 479, 720, 753, 753A, 764, 893, 763L, 715.

Blue Lines: Away From Games Venues

2010-09-25T09:25:00.000-07:00

From September 26, about 1,600 Blue line buses will go off the roads in central Delhi and around Commonwealth Games venues. The rickety fleet will be replaced with an equal number of low floor DTC buses which are being put on the affected routes. The move is aimed at improving the ‘‘image and look’’ of areas which will be frequented by athletes, delegates and tourists during the Games.

For this, some of the 132 affected routes will be curtailed and Bluelines plying on them will have to turn back from a designated point so that they ply only in areas which are unaffected by the Games. On some routes which operated only in the central parts of the city, however, the buses will be totally put off the roads. A majority of the Blue line buses which are being removed, will not be given alternative routes to ply. According to records of the transport department, the permits of the buses are close to expiring and therefore, giving them other routes is not viable. Some operators will be given alternative routes.

Blue line operators, however, feel the move is against the government’s mandate of promoting public transport. ‘‘We haven’t received any individual notices from the government yet. But the Games are a matter of national interest and we are going to cooperate with the government in whatever decision is taken. But the world over, public transport has been promoted during Games buses in Melbourne and Beijing ran extra trips. We only want our buses to be diverted to other vacant routes,’’ said Shyam Lal Gola of Delhi Bus Ekta Manch, a Bluelines bus operators’ collective.

The phasing out of Bluelines, however, doesn’t mean a shortage of buses in the city. ‘‘In the last four months alone, we have got 2,000 new DTC low floor buses. Part of this fleet will be used to augment services on the affected routes where Bluelines are being phased out. DTC has worked out a detailed plan for this which will be implemented when the phase-out starts from Saturday,’’ said transport commissioner R K Verma.

The original plan was to remove Bluelines from these areas from September 25 but this was postponed by a day as it was felt that commuter rush is lesser on Sunday and DTC is getting over 220 more buses from Ashok Leyland too which can be used to augment services. The transport department is planning to open the Burari Regional Transport Office (RTO) to facilitate registration of the new fleet.

The city has about 2,300 Bluelines of which over half will be affected by this move. A large chunk of the 6,000-strong DTC fleet being taken away for Games use too. The corporation will run special shuttle services from 52 focal points to facilitate movement to all the Commonwealth Games venues.

AEL CS Line to be Opened Next Week

2010-09-25T09:20:00.000-07:00

Delhi Metro’s two remaining sections Airport Express Line and Central Secretariat to Badarpur will be opened for public use next week. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is in the process of getting the mandatory certification from Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS). The two lines will become operational soon, marking the completion of Phase II of Delhi Metro construction. Two stations on the Airport Express Line, however, will not open before the Commonwealth Games.

According to sources, the 25-km long fast link to IGI airport will be inspected by CMRS on September 27 and 28. The concessionaire of the line, Reliance Infra, has submitted the necessary documentation and pre-work for the inspection. After the safety certification comes through, the line will be opened. ‘‘It is expected that the line will be opened within a day or two of the inspection. Two stations, Dhaula Kuan and Delhi Aerocity, will only be opened after the Commonwealth Games as construction of these is not complete yet,’’ said sources. The CMRS will also inspect the extension of Line 3 from Dwarka Sector 9 to Sector 21 on September 29, which will link Line 3 to Airport Line.

The Airport Link, which has a designed speed of 135kmph, will connect New Delhi Railway station (NDRS) and Dwarka sector 22 and stop at IGI on the way. It has three more designated stops at Shivaji Terminus, Dhaula Kuan and Delhi Aerocity. The line has been modeled on the Heathrow Express in London and the Hong Kong Metro airport link. The airline and baggage check-in counters are being provided at the NDRS, Shivaji terminus and Dhaula Kuan metro stations, which will also start after the Games.

As for the Badarpur line, construction on which has been paced up by DMRC, the corporation is in the process of completing documentation to submit to CMRS by this week. The inspection is expected to take place next week, around September 20-30, soon after which this line will also open. ‘‘The Badarpur line had the shortest time for construction and last minute finishing work is still going on at the stations and on the last three kms of the line from Sarita Vihar to Badarpur. It will open by next week,’’ sources said.

The 20.16-km line, which connects Commonwealth Games venues including JN Stadium, is expected to open for public use by September end cutting down travel time from Central Secretariat to Badarpur to just 40 minutes. It has stations at Central Secretariat, Khan Market, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Jangpura, Lajpat Nagar, Moolchand, Kailash Colony, Nehru Place, Kalkaji Mandir, Govindpuri, Okhla, Jasola, Sarita Vihar, Mohan Estate, Tughlaqabad and Badarpur.

FLY TO AIRPORT

Length | 22.7km (7km elevated, 15.7km underground) Stations | 6 (New Delhi Railway Station, Shivaji Terminus, Dhaula Kuan, Delhi Aerocity, IGI Airport and Dwarka Sector 21

Stations where baggage can be checked in | NDLS, Shivaji Terminus and Dhaula Kuan Journey time | 18 mins (from NDLS to IGI) Train speed | 135kmph Frequency | 10 mins in 2010, 6 mins by 2021

Maximum fare | 150 (Max up to IGI), 30 (IGI to Dwarka)
Monthly frequent flier pass | 2,000 up to IGI; 600 from IGI to Dwarka
Completion deadline | September 2010

Expected ridership | 42,500 by 2010; 86,000 by 2021
Construction cost | 3,800 crore (approx) Business model | Public-private partnership (PPP) with DMRC eveloping the civil structures

Medical Staff at Games Venues Dissatisfied with Treatment

2010-09-25T09:19:00.000-07:00

Doctors and paramedics are upset with the facilities provided to them at Games venues. With medical staff posted full time at various venues, doctors say they are neither allowed to carry food inside nor are they provided meals. The state health department says they have taken up the matter with OC.

‘‘For security reasons, we have to deposit even our umbrellas at the main entry. For food we have to come outside the venue. We were told that once we are posted full time at the venue, we will be give meals twice a day,’’ said a doctor posted with IG Stadium. The OC has not even made arrangements for tea or coffee. ‘‘There is just one coffee dispenser machine at the stadium, which is only for OC people. Our staff is not allowed to take tea or coffee from the machine. With no arrangements at the venue, we are forced to go to Delhi Secretariat for food. Even for a cup of coffee we have to walk nearly 2km as several entries have been closed due to security reasons,’’ said a senior doctor.

The condition is the same at several competition venues. Doctors at Yamuna Sports Complex are also facing a similar problem. ‘‘Initially, we were not allowed to take food inside. As the OC people are not giving us meals, we requested the security agency at the venue to allow us to bring food. Now after thorough checking we can take food inside,’’ said a doctor posted with Yamuna Sports Complex.

Admitting there was a problem, Dr A K Aggarwal, in charge of the medical workforce for the Games, said, ‘‘The issue was brought to my notice during the test events. Our doctors and paramedical staff were not given food. We have informed the director health services about it.’’ Doctors posted at various venues say they have been told that food will be available from September 26.

Doctors are unhappy with the treatment given to them at the venues. ‘‘First, we were ordered to report for Commonwealth Games duty but were made to sign volunteer form. The government is not giving us TA/DA for this duty. Now, to top it all we are not even given food. We spend eight to nine hours at the venues. We should at least have facility for tea or coffee. How can you make a person work in these conditions?’’ said a doctor posted at one of the Games venues.

According to a senior health official, ‘‘We were told that OC would be providing two meals to the entire medical workforce. Had they told us we would have made arrangements for food for our staff. We have taken up the matter with OC.’’

At Last Games Song Video Brings Some Happiness to Public

2010-09-25T09:18:00.000-07:00

Amid all the gloom and doom, here’s a piece of good news the OC has finally got the video of Delhi Games 2010 theme song by A R Rahman out. The video, which didn’t get an official launch in the midst of the controversies surrounding the Commonwealth Games Village, showcases a much peppier version of the theme song, Swagatham.

Conceptualized and produced by Bharat Bala productions, the video is atwo-minute long virtual treat with Rahman belting out the retuned version of the song even as India’s sport icons like Saina Nehwal and Milkha Singh do what they do best: play a great game. Besides the two, Commonwealth Games ambassador Sushil Kumar is also shown besides several other international sport stars.

The video features a much shorter version of the song, with the refrain of ‘‘Letz go’’ coming out on tops. ‘‘It’s also much peppier and should go down far better than the original Swagatham did,’’ said a senior OC official. While OC hasn’t revealed if any formal launch of the video is planned, sources said the new version will be released on television ‘‘soon’’. ‘‘As part of the awareness campaign, the video will be played on television within a day or two as well as released on radio. The idea is to reach as many people as possible before the Games start off from October 3,’’ added the official.

The production of the video, said sources, cost approximately Rs 60 lakh, with Rahman not being paid a separate fee for his appearance, as he would be featured in the song. Bala, incidentally, is also the creative head of the ceremonies committee for the Delhi Games 2010.

Athletes and Games Official to Have Smooth Sail on Road

2010-09-25T09:17:00.000-07:00

Amid instances of how preparations for the Commonwealth Games have not been up to the mark, the successful first full trial run on the elevated road connecting Ring Road near Sarai Kale Khan and Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Friday came as a big relief for the Delhi government. Public Works Department (PWD) minister Raj Kumar Chauhan announced that the elevated road would be opened for general commuters from October 15, immediately after the Games.

‘Government has spent a huge amount in building the project. We don’t want public to be deprived of using this stretch once the Games is over. It will reduce the travel time between these two points to only 5-6 minutes,’’ the minister said. The road has been built entirely on the Barapullah Nullah bed. ‘‘Construction of the road was necessary for taking Games sportspersons and officials directly to the main venue. How could we have taken the huge fleet of buses through crowded roads?’’ Chauhan said.

On Friday, about 240 low floor air-conditioned DTC buses meant for the athletes and officials covered this distance. The buses started from Games Village and took the elevated road from Ring Road just opposite Bala Sahib Gurudwara.

Security Alert: 40% Police Staff on Games Duty

2010-09-25T09:15:00.000-07:00

As the capital makes its last-ditch attempt to host the Commonwealth Games successfully, the Delhi Police too is leaving no stone unturned to secure the venues and delegates coming for the sporting event. But the heavy deployment of cops on Games duty will come at a price. With over 40% of the force from each police station to be diverted for CWG security, local policing is bound to take a hit.

According to sources, a majority of the police stations — especially those located near the venues in east, central and north Delhi — will be working with only one inspector instead of the usual three from October 3 to October 14. The Station House Officer, an inspector-rank official, has been spared of Games related duty while the other two inspectors handling investigations and anti-terrorism squad have been assigned security duty during the sporting event.

SHO and the ACP level officers have been also asked to arrange their own private vehicles for their regular movement during the Games. ‘‘We could not have trusted private drivers for Games duty. Hence, we have roped in our own drivers,’’ said a senior police officer. The officer added that even middle level officers with the Police Control Room have been asked to surrender their vehicles during this period.

From securing venues to verifying over a lakh workers to carrying out regular mock drills, cops have their task cut out and accordingly they have been asked to cancel their leave applications till the end of the Games. ‘‘Moreover, the Jama Masjid attack came as a rude shock. We have to be sure that the 470 points identified earlier as sensitive are fully secured,’’ said an officer from south district.

Senior officials at the police headquarters played down the fears. ‘‘We have 175 companies of paramilitary forces. The total number of security men is expected to be around 1.75 lakh. We are aware of securing such sensitive areas like markets and festive areas where Ramlila and Durga Puja will be celebrated. Hence, we have made adequate arrangements,’’ said an officer overseeing security at the IGI stadium.

Delhi Police Leaving Nothing: Carrying Out Double Check

2010-09-25T09:14:00.000-07:00

Under pressure to ensure a safe Games, Delhi Police is leaving nothing to chance. Claiming that they were ‘‘not provided with complete details’’ of people who have to be issued accreditation cards for smooth entry to Games venues, the cops have been forced to do a double check.

A secondary verification is being carried out in 46,000 out of the one lakh cases to prepare a database and iron out the errors in the accreditation list.

Accreditation cards are being distributed by the organizing committee (OC) after the special branch of Delhi Police carried out the primary verification of over 1 lakh people, including volunteers, medical officers, workers, vendors, Delhi Police personnel and others. However, details of around 46,000 people were found to be incomplete because of which a secondary verification is being carried out.

According to Delhi Police, the OC has given out names and other details of individuals but when the names of two persons are similar, there is no way to establish their identities. ‘‘We are preparing a list of all individuals with common name. In some lists, there are five Rajesh Kumars but their parentage and other details have not been provided by the OC,’’ said a senior police officer.

Their references and complete details are being obtained from OC and special branch for a second verification. ‘‘We also want to run a second check on the accreditation of all government officials, including medical officers who have been called from outside Delhi. Many in the list given by the OC have been exempted from any verification. This includes government officials,’’ the officer added.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police had said that once the lockdown is initiated, persons without proper accreditation will not be allowed inside.

‘There is no entry for vehicles and only those with proper pass issued from the OC are being allowed inside. Contractors and vendors who have unfinished work at the venues will be allowed only after they are issued a bumping pass. These passes are being issued by the OC in consultation with the venue commander,’’ said an officer.

Games Village Developer Distances Themselves From Controversy

2010-09-25T09:13:00.000-07:00

Emaar-MGF, developer of the Commonwealth Games Village, has distanced itself from the controversy surrounding the sporting extravaganza, according to a report.

“The project was completed and handed over to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Organizing Committee (OC) in June,” a spokesperson for Emaar-MGF, which is a joint venture owned by Indian lender MGF and Dubai-based Emaar Properties, told Dubai’s 7DAYS newspaper. “The OC is responsible for the furniture and fixtures in the apartments and the temporary overlays in the Village. The current controversy is due to housekeeping issues arising out of work being carried out by the OC,” the spokesperson added.

After Many Months Sheila Awakes Now Asking Report from Ministers

2010-09-25T09:12:00.000-07:00

After a rap from the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, at Thursday’s emergency meeting, chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Friday put all her six cabinet ministers on alert, asking them to go for field inspections and fix drawbacks. In a belated attempt to salvage the show, the chief minister along with senior officials of her government camped for most part of the day at the Games Village to get things done.

The message to her ministers came at a cabinet meeting. The entire state government machinery will now focus only on Games-related preparations though the sense of urgency seems to be coming too late in the day. She has often blamed the media, besides the rain, for playing the spoiler and repeatedly promised that everything would turn out to be okay in the end.

Soon after the cabinet meeting, the CM rushed to the Village. The principal secretary to the chief minister, PK Tripathi, was at the Village through the day, monitoring housekeeping. Chief secretary Rakesh Mehta divided his time between official meetings, Village and secretariat. From dog catching, sanitation arrangements, fire hydrants to housekeeping arrangements now being executed with the help of professionals from five-star hotels, officials claimed to be monitoring everything small and big.

The lights were out in the offices of nearly all cabinet ministers. While transport minister Arvinder Singh Lovely was first seen at the Barapullah elevated corridor, he was later busy inspecting the bus depot at Sarai Kale Khan which houses the buses for athletes and delegates.

After flagging off the trial run at Barapullah elevated road, the minister in-charge of PWD, Raj Kumar Chauhan, went for an inspection of the Ring Road bypass and later reviewed work on roads at Maharani Bagh and Bhikaji Cama Place. Health minister Kiran Walia, urban development minister AK Walia and food & civil supplies minister Haroon Yusuf too were out on inspections.

Labour minister Mangat Ram Singhal was the only one available in the Delhi secretariat in the later half of the day. He, however, said that he had been assigned north and northwest Delhi. At the end of the day, the CM office released the schedule of inaugurations lined up for Saturday.

For the record, in July the chief secretary’s office had issued an official memorandum on the directions of the chief minister drawing up an inspection schedule for ministers and officials.

Athletes Arriving Today Brace for Traffic Jams

2010-09-25T09:11:00.000-07:00

The movement of athletes from IGI Airport to Commonwealth Games Village on Saturday is expected to cause minor disruption of traffic between 9.30am and 10.30am. The traffic police do not plan to close the lanes for the entire time. But Delhiites can expect trouble from September 27 when the Games lanes will be fully functional.

”As per schedule received from the Organizing Committee, athletes will arrive at the international airport and move to the Games Village in the morning. There will be partial restriction on Games lanes between the airport and Games Village between 9.30am and 10.30am. Other than these, there will not be exclusive restrictions on other stretches earmarked as Games Lanes,’’ said Satyendra Garg, joint commissioner of police (traffic).

The contingents will move to the Village via National Highway-8, Sardar Patel Marg, Panchsheel Marg, Kamal Attaturk Marg, Safdarjung Road, Aurobindo Marg, Lodhi Road, Mathura Road, Bhairon Road, Ring Road and National Highway-24.

The movement of athletes to training venues will also be facilitated for which the vehicles carrying the athletes will follow a police pilot car or bike. People have been advised to give way to the contingents. The real trouble is expected to start from September 27. ‘‘As most of the athletes and officials are expected to check in by September 26, the Games Lane will be fully operational from September 27. People are advised to take alternative routes,’’ Garg said.

Motorists are advised to avoid the spinal route for Commonwealth Games lanes which link the Village, Hotel Ashoka and Hotel Samrat and six venues including JLN stadium, Thyagraj Stadium, Siri Fort, RK Khanna Tennis complex, SPM complex and Talkatora Stadium.

The traffic police have urged Delhiites to switch to public transport and use alternative routes.

New Guests Busy in Exploring Games Village

2010-09-25T09:09:00.000-07:00

Even as the political and bureaucratic brass of the country scrambled to get the Delhi Games back on track on Friday, athletes living in the Commonwealth Games Village were busy discovering the Village. Sources said the day was spent by the 300-odd athletes and delegates living there many of whom had arrived only on Thursday mostly exploring the international zone in the Village as well as the training facility.

Said an official, ‘‘While most of the athletes who had come from abroad were familiarizing themselves with the rooms and getting over jetlag, the Indian contingent settled in and explored the Village area.’’ With the athletes expected to finish the DRM (delegation registration meeting) as they arrive, there was a lot of movement within the residential zone as well. Added the official, ‘‘The massive housekeeping and cleaning exercise that is going on is confined to some of the towers. The athletes who are living in the Village kept away and preferred to explore the training facility and the nearby pool instead.’’ No one, however, used the pool, though some tried out the gymnasium equipment, added officials.

Predictably, the maximum movement was in the international zone, which also has the kitchen. Ajay Grover, consultant (catering) of the OC, said the kitchen, which has been operational for some days now, cooked over 5,000 meals on Friday. These included 4,200 meals for the workforce. Added Grover, ‘‘While breakfast didn’t see a lot of athletes venture out, the lunch was served to around 300 athletes and delegates.’’

Added Jimmy Shue, one of the specialty chefs brought to Delhi specially for the Games by Delaware North, the caterers, ‘‘The kitchen has now become operational 24 hours. Athletes can walk in any time for food.’’ Shue, who said the work in the international zone had been on schedule for some days now, is a Commonwealth Games veteran and was a part of the Melbourne Games as well.

Friday’s lunch menu included not only the Indian spread but also a range of dishes from other Asian countries as well as Continental and African food. Since a majority of the athletes in the Village are from the Indian team, the local food was a hit, added Grover. Dishes like paneer makhana masala, aloo palak, pindi chhole, meen moily and Goa fish curry were in great demand even as the athletes from other countries like Australia, Malaysia, Kenya, Nigeria and elsewhere enjoyed dishes like Hungarian-styled stew, slow cooked goat, grilled sole steak, Jolliff rice (an African specialty) and prawn cutlets.

Athletes Angry with Tight Security

2010-09-25T08:57:00.000-07:00

As the Games Village gets its new occupants, some teething troubles are cropping up with athletes complaining of “strict” security drills with some of them not being able to take even items of personal use like mouthwash into the residential towers.

Security personnel are under instructions to keep liquids out in the manner in which fluids are banned by most airlines in passenger hand luggage. This led to some arguments with delegates complaining that they were being put through checks that were excessive.

The point was amplified by CGF chief Michael Fennel during his visit to the Village on Friday when he suggested that security adopt some flexibility in dealing with such issues. With 96 residents in the complex and 160 expected on Saturday, there will soon be more to do for security personnel.

Some of the visitors were unhappy that the cars they were provided with did not have drivers who spoke English. There was not much the organizers could do about this even as some of them said there were similar situations at Athens and Beijing Olympics. Yet, it was felt that more translators could have been arranged. The buses would be less of a problem as there would be an official in every vehicle used to transport athletes.

With cleaning of the towers being undertaken at a frantic pace, there was a noticeable improvement and Australian and English delegations looked ready to move in. There were others, though, like Scots and Kiwis who were demanding they be shown design safety and fire certificates, which the organizers felt was a little excessive.

Public Showed No Interest for CWG Games Tickets

2010-09-25T08:56:00.000-07:00

The stink of the Commonwealth Games Village seems to have spread to the ticket sales as well.

Figures of ticket sale over the past week clearly shows the disenchantment of the general public with the Delhi Games 2010, described by organizers as the biggest sporting spectacle in the country in over 20 years. Here’s a sample: on September 18, the total number of sales for the Games was 14,800 for the day. A day before, it had been 10,500 while it had crossed the 12,000 mark on September 16. On September 21, the day when the Village controversy erupted, the sales came down to somewhat around 8,000 tickets. It plummeted to 3,000-odd tickets the next day even as more skeletons kept tumbling out of the organizing committee’s (OC) closet.

Said a senior OC official, ‘‘The impact has been immediate. Before that, we had been congratulating ourselves that ticket sales were picking up, especially after the good publicity that the Games received from various quarters including the soft launch of the Village.’’ Sources said the ticket sales had crossed the 2.5 lakh figure last week, with many buying not only the tickets worth Rs 1,000 the lowest range for the opening ceremony but also the expensive ones, worth Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000. Said the source, ‘‘Around 1,000 tickets each of Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000 tickets were sold till the beginning of the week.’’

Sources said ticket sales had not improved much on Thursday, hovering in the 3,000-4,000 figures. Said a senior OC official, ‘‘A damage control exercise needs to be launched to generate more enthusiasm for the Games, otherwise ticket sales will fall far short of the numbers we are offering to sell.’’ The OC hopes to sell 17 lakh tickets for the fortnight-long mega event, with the opening and closing ceremonies expected to generate the most interest. Till date, most ticket sales have been for these two events, with the sporting events not really garnering much sale.

Officials said the OC is hoping that ticket sales will go up now, with the Village controversy being resolved.

Fennell Says Considerable Improvement

2010-09-25T08:55:00.000-07:00

There’s finally some good news coming from the Commonwealth Games Village. Days after the advance teams from New Zealand and Canada besides other countries complained about the condition of the Village, both delegates and the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) chief, Michael Fennell, admitted that ‘‘considerable’’ improvements have been made. And while Fennell made it clear that the organising committee (OC) of the Delhi Games 2010 had to keep on its toes to ensure that the momentum of work continues, things looks good for the Games, with the first batch of 47 athletes, including 17 from England, landing in Delhi on Friday.

Said a senior OC official, ‘‘With a large work force being deployed in the Village, a large part of the cleaning operation has been accomplished. Now, the debris lying around in the open, especially the pools of stagnant water, is the main cause of work left to be done.’’ In fact, the stagnant water — both in the external areas as well as in the basement of the towers, is some areas that Fennell has told the OC to be on top priority, said sources.

Visiting the Village early morning, Fennell met the chefs de mission of the countries that have already their advance teams, along with CGF CEO, Mike Hooper. ‘‘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 Delhi chief minister, Sheila Dikshit, to make good what was a concerning situation,’’ Fennell said in a statement.

It wasn’t just Fennell who made the rounds of the Village though. Dikshit also rushed to the Village while OC’s brass, including OC chairman Suresh Kalmadi and Vice-chairman Randhir Singh, also went there. Also present was OC spokesperson Lalit Bhanot, who was overseeing the clean-up operation in the Village, added sources. Added Fennell, ‘‘We must ensure that a suitable environment is provided to ensure the welfare of the athletes and their support staff... It is vital that all remedial work that has already started continues with the greatest urgency.’’

The 17-member team from England, meanwhile, which landed in Delhi, will be staying in a hotel. Admitted Bhanot, ‘‘They have made their own (living) arrangements and will move into the Village in a few days.’’ Asked if the team hadn’t moved in as the Village wasn’t ready, Bhanot claimed it was a ‘‘normal’’ feature. ‘‘The team informed us that they wanted to meet outsiders which would have been difficult in the Village, so preferred to stay in a hotel,’’ added Bhanot.

Meanwhile, around 1,000 sanitation workers from MCD and NDMC have been working to clean-up the Games Village. Said an official: ‘‘Due to water filling up the basement areas, around 15 lifts were not working.’’ MCD is pumping out water from the basement area and claims that the water entered the basement due to Yamuna level rising. Meanwhile, DDA which is responsible for the maintenance of the basement claimed that no water had entered the basement.

Said an NDMC official, ‘‘We are scraping off the muck and grime from within the Games Village. Most of the cleaning work is over. Around 500 sanitation workers from NDMC are carrying out work in the Village while the MCD staff is responsible for removing garbage from the complex.’’

MCD said there was still a lot of malba which needed to be removed. Said an MCD official, ‘‘We have allocated 500 workers for cleaning the exterior of the Village. We have also been given the duty to carry out fogging in the area and ensuring that there are no dogs in the vicinity.”

Now Indian Army to Save Games

2010-09-25T08:54:00.000-07:00

When all systems fail, call in the Army. With time running out, a desperate Delhi government has now asked the Army to build a foot over bridge outside the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in place of the one that collapsed on Tuesday. The bridge will facilitate movement of spectators.

The move came after officials responsible for securing the stadium found that an alternative movement plan for spectators would pose a security risk.

Top Delhi government officials said the Army plans to begin work immediately and is expected to deliver the bridge within five days. ‘‘This will be a Bailey bridge,’’ chief secretary Rakesh Mehta told an English News Daily. A bailey bridge is a prefabricated truss structure used by the military to bridge gaps. The new bridge will not be as fancy as the one that fell, but will be built at a fraction of the original cost. Rs 5 crore was being spent on the suspension bridge that collapsed.

The PWD has been asked to complete the second foot over bridge that will also take spectators into the stadium. This structure will be completed before the Games by PWD, which claims material is ready and it will be possible to finish work in time.

Army sources confirmed military engineers had been asked to build the bridge following a request from the Delhi chief secretary. Some of the equipment had already been moved to the site, they added.

As the entire Delhi Government machinery swung into action to execute a belated salvage operation at the Games Village, by afternoon it was evident that a replacement for the collapsed foot over bridge at JLN stadium would be necessary. Earlier, the government and the traffic police had proposed an alternative plan for movement of spectators who were supposed to use the FOB.

According to top sources, under the alternative plan, spectators would have had to walk an extra kilometer to enter the stadium. Thus a meeting was held with the Army representatives on Friday where the modalities of building a bridge were discussed. Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta said, ‘‘For now, they have agreed to make one bridge.’’

The Army had earlier been requested to construct a temporary iron bridge to link another Games venue, the Siri Fort complex. This bridge was built at a cost of Rs 80 lakh.

SIGNS OF HOPE AMID FIREFIGHTING

England’s first batch of 22 athletes arrives, will stay in hotels till Village blocks ready
Kiwi cyclist Greg Henderson pulls out. But NZ to come following green signal by Olympic Committee. PM John Key says it would be heart-breaking for athletes if they couldn’t go CGF chief Mike Fennell says “considerable improvements” at Village. Delhi Govt. says clean-up will be completed by Saturday morning Australia’s Olympic Committee chief John Coates says Games should never have come to India. But CWG chief Perry Crosswhite gives Village a “thumbs up” Cong spokesman Manish Tewari says no one should have been given opportunity to point fingers, but also blames “foreign stereotype” of India

Metro Line Glitch on Gurgaon line hits service

2010-09-21T08:32:00.000-07:00

Commuters using the Gurgaon Metro line faced delays on Monday morning after train operations on a portion of the line were suspended for 45 minutes to repair a technical snag on the overhead electrification (OHE) line. Even though the shut-off was scheduled and commuters were told about it at stations, commuters were inconvenienced as they had to opt for other modes of transport.

The technical snag affected the section between Sultanpur and Guru Dronacharya Metro stations and there were virtually no trains between the two locations during the affected time. Commuters complained even in the morning, the trains were running slowly and halting at every station for five minutes. At the receiving end were scores of office-goers who have not started depending on the Metro for their daily commute out of Gurgaon.

‘‘I boarded the train around 10am from Sikanderpur station to go to Delhi and as usual it was running slow and halting every now and then. However, I realized something was wrong when our train reached Sultanpur station. Instead of going to Platform 1, the train changed track and got on Platform 2 on which passengers heading towards Gurgaon were waiting. There were no announcements made and everybody in the train was left wondering what had happened,’’ said Arun Kumar, a DLF-3 resident.

According to commuters, the trouble started as early as 8am. ‘‘On Monday morning, the journey which usually takes 40 minutes took more than an hour. I boarded the train around 8am and it kept halting at every station. There were no announcements what the delay was about and when we reached Sultanpur station there was some confusion and the train stopped at platform 3, it usually stops at platform 2,’’ said Sunder Singh, a Karol Bagh resident. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) officials, meanwhile, said they had taken a block in services from 11.20am to 11.50am to repair the snag in the overhead electrification line.

LGs parking and pillion rider ban breached on Day One

2010-09-21T08:31:00.000-07:00

A day after a meeting chaired by the lieutenant-governor, Tejendra Khanna, asked Delhi Police to ban parking within 100 meters of 470 sites identified as sensitive and not allow bikers with pillion riders in these areas, there was neither any notification, nor any action on the ground. Delhi Police said a notification was underway.

‘‘The notification is ready and will be sent to all authorities concerned early on Tuesday. We respect the decisions taken at the meeting and we will do everything to implement them,’’ said Bhagat. Delhi Police said they have also asked the management at these places to install CCTVs since they are high on the list of terror targets.

However, when Times City visited 10 spots mentioned in the list, the enormity of the task at hand became evident. At Turkman Gate, a PCR had asked drivers to move away their vehicles but they only managed to clear the front portion. Cars and three wheelers remained parked on the adjacent roads, barely 20 meters from the spot.

At India Gate, policemen feigned ignorance. ‘‘We have not received any intimation about parking so far. We are on alert but would have preferred to have a metal detector,’’ said a cop standing among parked cars, barely 80 meters from the monument.

At Safdargunj Tomb, no cops were present at the entrance. A lone traffic constable had no idea about the curbs imposed even as a staffer explained that parking was ‘‘official’’ and that the police action of stopping parking within 100 meters of the monument was only for ‘‘illegal parking.’’ The police said no such ‘‘distinctions’’ will be made because this was a security issue.

Though bikers with pillion riders kept zipping past, the cops hardly reacted. Said a cop near Jantar Mantar (where parking was as rampant as at any place else): ‘‘It is impossible to stop someone who is moving in these places on a genuine purpose. We are however keeping a eye for suspicious characters on two-wheelers.’’ The worst-affected area, perhaps, was Connaught Place where cars were parked at almost every available spot. ‘‘We are shocked that there are PCRs only for the inner circle. We read in the papers that parking will not be allowed in the vicinity and hence opted for the Metro. Yet here, we find unrestricted parking,’’ said Snigdha Gulati from the Punjabi Bagh area. The police said all necessary action to restrict parking will be taken from Tuesday when the notification is issued.

CM Believes Delhi is absolutely ready: Really?

2010-09-21T08:25:00.000-07:00

With barely two weeks to go for the Commonwealth Games, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday reviewed the preparations and said the city was ‘‘now absolutely ready’’ and was aiming for ‘‘perfection’’ in various infrastructure and services.

Dikshit asked all the agencies involved in the Games-related project to constitute special teams to monitor the situation.

‘‘As the city is now absolutely ready to host an international sports event, it is the need of the hour to keep a close eye on newly-developed infrastructure, greenery, street lights, street-scaping, high mast lights and other vital civic services to ensure constant perfection,,’’ said the CM. Some 7,000 participants and officials from 71 countries and territories are expected to attend the Commonwealth Games.

Different Government Agencies to supply ambulances for Games

2010-09-21T08:24:00.001-07:00

Ambulances for Commonwealth Games will now be brought from different government agencies, including the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central government hospitals and Centralized Accident and Trauma Services (CATS).

With 12 days to go for the event, the state government has scrapped the names of private hospitals from the list of sources that were supposed to provide ambulances. Health minister Kiran Walia said there was no shortage of ambulances.

According to the latest report on medical arrangements by the health department, 64 ambulances will cater to the Games. The department has procured 31 new ambulances from a private company called MGM, seven Advanced Life Support ambulances have been sourced through the state government, 12 have been brought from Central government hospitals and the rest have been provided by CATS. The CRPF has donated two ambulances to the organizing committee (OC).

Private hospitals and agencies, including the I-Care group, Max Hospital and another Noida-based hospital, which were in talks with the government for providing ambulances and drivers if required, have not been involved by the state yet. ‘‘We along with other service providing agencies and the Delhi Medical Association have been in dialogue with the government on providing some ambulances. We are still waiting confirmation on the exact requirement, if any,” said an official at Max Hospital, Saket.

Walia said the government had arranged the required number of ambulances on its own. “We have sufficient ambulances, which will be available round-the-clock near polyclinics, hotels and the airport. The accreditation process for 167 crew members, who will man these vehicles, is 75% complete,” said Walia. She said 35 venue medical centers and 38 first-aid posts have been made operational. On an average, one ambulance will be stationed outside the 35 medical centers and the rest will be placed across important points near the training venues and Games village. The ambulance command and control will be done through CATS control room in West Delhi.

For transportation to different locations of medical inside the Games village, the government has arranged eight-seater golf carts. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, and G B Pant Hospital will have provisions for definitive treatment of accredited personnel.

Special Games Kiosks for Information cum Food

2010-09-21T08:22:00.002-07:00

You can savor the different delicacies of Delhi at a kiosk close to your house now. For the Games, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will install 40 information-cum-food kiosks across the city which will focus on hard selling ‘Brand Delhi’. Two such installations were opened on Monday. Chief minister Sheila Dikshit inaugurated a cafe near Birla Mandir while mayor Prithvi Raj Sawhney unveiled a similar
kiosk near Red Fort.

The mayor said kiosks will be put up at various heritage sites and major markets. T-shirts, bags, caps and mugs with themes like ‘‘I Love Delhi’’ and ‘‘Delhi Dilwalaon Ka’’ under the brand tag of ‘‘Delhi memories’’ will be sold at these cafes. Each cafe will have a 30x20 inch touchscreen to provide information to visitors in eight foreign and Indian languages about tourist attractions in the city, its culture and heritage, shopping areas, food, accommodation and nightlife.

‘The kiosks will also sell street food and beverages in a safe and hygienic environment. For example in the stall near Chandni Chowk, the famous paranthas, chaat, jalebi and lassi of Walled City will be available,’’ said Amiya Chandra, chief of MCD’s remunerative project cell.

Added another official, ‘‘We will have chocolates in the shape of Qutub Minar and earrings will be shaped like jalebi.’’ The official added the items that are being sold are all eco-friendly. The MCD said it has not incurred any expenditure in the project which has been undertaken in a public-private partnership mode. The stalls will be operational for 100 days and the private agency will get profit from the sale of items. After that, the units will be transferred to MCD which will use them as government-to-citizen kiosks.

‘‘We will transform the stalls to G2C kiosks. Touch screens will be there, but no items will be sold,’’ said Chandra. The touch screens will provide information on ATMs, police stations and hospitals along with important contact numbers other than travel related information about Jaipur and Agra. It will have bluetooth to facilitate data transfer.

Blockages Leading to Water Accumulating at IG velodrome: Drainage a Big Problem

2010-09-21T08:22:00.001-07:00

A couple of days left to athletes arriving in India for the Commonwealth Games 2010 and venues in the city continue to face problems. Sources working at the Indira Gandhi Velodrome say the drainage system at the venue has sprung blockages, leading to water accumulating within the premises.

Said a senior official, ‘‘The drainage system, which is supposedly state-of-the-art, however hasn’t managed to tackle the rainwater. The rain over the past few days has been very strong, which has led to the blocks in the drainage system.’’ The situation is so bad that water can be found to be lying in large quantities around the premises, as well as leading to seepage, add officials working in the site. The situation is especially precarious in the roof, where the accumulating water could well lead to leaks, added the officials. ‘‘Since its a closed stadium, the rainwater needs to be taken out through the pipes along the roof. However, since the drainage system is not working at optimum, the water flows out of the pipes and leads to leaks. A physical outlet had to be made to take out the excess water,’’ said the official.

Officials in the CPWD deny the allegations. Said BK Chugh, director general (works) of the CPWD, ‘‘There are no problems with the drainage in the Indira Gandhi velodrome. Its one of the most sophisticated venues we have constructed, with the latest technology.’’ Chugh claimed that the water accumulation was a temporary feature because of the rains and not because of a faulty drainage system. ‘‘The last time there was a problem was a fortnight ago, which was resolved. We have received no complaint from the Velodrome thereafter, and have been conducting daily checks,’’ added Chugh.

Media & Broadcast Centre with the Capacity of 2000 Journalists open

2010-09-21T08:20:00.000-07:00

Dismissing travel advisories issued by Commonwealth countries, Organizing Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi on Monday said no country had expressed concern or threatened to pull out of the Commonwealth Games after the Jama Masjid shooting incident.

He said all steps had been taken to ensure safety of athletes and delegates were satisfied with the arrangements made by India. ‘‘We are monitoring the situation on a day to day basis,’’ said Kalmadi while inaugurating the main press centre of the Games at Pragati Maidan. He was accompanied by I&B minister Ambika Soni.

Spread over 6,700sqm, the media centre will cater to about 2,000 journalists including 800 from overseas. It is expected to function 24 hours from October 1-15. There will be free internet access and wi-fi.

The International Broadcast Centre also situated at Pragati Maidan has begun operations with broadcasters setting up operations there. IBC is equipped with technical resources, including broadcast information offices, satellite dish farm and telecommunication operations.

Uncompressed audio and video feed from 38 cameras produced by the host broadcaster from all venues through optical fibre connection will be customised by rights holding broadcasters and transmitted through satellite uplinking service and international fiber service.

‘‘I have not got a single call from any Commonwealth country expressing apprehensions about security (of the athletes after Sunday’s firing). This (firing) was not a Games-related incident. It happened in Jama Masjid and the police are looking into it. It’s not a major incident. As of today, all 71 Commonwealth countries are coming for the Games,’’ he added.

Asked about terror advisories issued by various countries, Kalmadi said their respective Commonwealth Games associations have committed to participating in the multi-sport event. ‘‘Many countries have issued travel advisories earlier also. Australia had earlier issued an advisory but its Commonwealth Games chief Perry Crosswhite said its athletes are coming. So what is important is that the Commonwealth Games bodies of the respective countries have committed to participation in the Games,’’ the OC chief added.

Come September 23, Brace for Jams as Athletes start to Arrive

2010-09-21T08:18:00.000-07:00

As athletes start pouring in for the Commonwealth Games from September 23, the traffic police plan to start blocking off Games lanes to provide them a free passage from the airport to the Commonwealth Games village. The road blocks, however, will not last for the entire day or night. The plan is to cordon off one lane of the main road in a need-based manner, depending on timings of arrival of the athletes.

The main route to be affected on September 23 and 24 will be from the airport to Commonwealth Games village via Sardar Patel Marg, Chanakyapuri, Lodhi Road, portion of Ring Road near Sarai Kale Khan, Nizamuddin Bridge and National Highway-24. ‘‘The roads will only be blocked when there is movement of athletes. At all other times, they will be available for traffic. We will be giving out day-to-day advisories informing people of the roads which will be affected and the timings of the movements,’’ said Satyendra Garg, Joint Commissioner of Police (traffic).

Not many road blocks are expected in the first two days on the rest of the stretches. The Organizing Committee has drawn up a training schedule too for athletes but this movement will begin full swing after a sizeable number of athletes have arrived.

The dedicated Games lanes have been marked mostly on the extreme right of arterial roads across the city. The lanes are painted using a solid yellow line with blue boxes with the Commonwealth Games logo and arrows at regular intervals. Those entering the lanes while the blocks are on will have to pay a fine of Rs 2,000 via a special notification being invoked by the cops.

To calm traffic volumes, the traffic had written to Delhi government to close schools, colleges, courts, factories, etc. In addition, all Games tickets will come with a free to and for Metro ride to the venue which spectators to events can avail of. Delhi-ites are also being urged to use public transport as far as possible. But despite all measures, the cordoning off of the one lane is expected to lead to jams, especially on two lanes roads falling on the route like Sardar Patel Marg, Kamal Attaturk Marg, Mall road, etc.

Four Countries Complain About Unliveable Conditions in Games Village

2010-09-21T08:14:00.000-07:00

Amid all the gloom about chaotic preparations for the Commonwealth Games, there was at least one silver lining: the widespread applause for the ‘‘world class’’ Games Village at its soft launch on September 16. Unfortunately, the Organizing Committee has run into a rude reality check even on this front.

Advance teams from New Zealand, Canada, Scotland and Ireland have objected strongly to the condition of the accommodation, say highly placed sources. The reason lack of maintenance of apartments in the towers allotted to these contingents and their abysmal, ‘‘unliveable’’ condition, say team delegates. Toilets in particular are said to be in a “mess”.

Sources said the apartments, which are left unlocked through the day and night, were found to be dirty. In some flats, labourers had defecated. In others, fixtures and other facilities were still to be provided or weren’t working. Though athletes are to start moving in after September 23, work in just 18 of the 34 towers is said to be complete. The advance teams believe the remaining work is unlikely to be completed for weeks.

The delegates are learnt to have told the OC that unless the apartments are set right, their teams should be put up in a Games Family hotel the Ashok or Janpath or some other accommodation. This could add to the OC’s logistical problems.

‘Fixtures Don’t Work, Toilets A Mess’

Condition of Games Village has prompted delegates from New Zealand, Canada, Scotland and Ireland to issue ultimatum to OC

Apartments in towers allotted to these countries, especially Kiwis, abysmal. Site workers have been using the unlocked flats. Toilets are stained. Fixtures haven’t been installed, don’t work or are broken

Size of contingent | Canada 400, New Zealand 325, Scotland 300

Those happy with Village | Australia, England

Welsh official had said more work needed in apartments

Several Commonwealth countries have raised concern over the facilities at the Games Village. Mike Hooper, CEO of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), confirmed,’ There have been issues about the lack of maintenance in the towers, which is being addressed by the OC.’’

Hooper admitted that it was a serious issue, but claimed, ‘‘The OC is working right now to ensure that conditions are improved. The issue should be resolved before the athletes arrive.’’OC secretary-general Lalit Bhanot refused to comment.

Sources, however, admitted that ‘‘objections’’ had been lodged with the OC for the past several days, in fact, ever since the soft launch of the Village.

While the teams from Australia, Wales and England expressed satisfaction, the towers shown to the delegates from New Zealand, Canada, Scotland and Ireland failed to impress the visiting delegates.

Though the Welsh have not complained, Chris Jenkins, chef de mission of the Wales team, had admitted at the soft launch that several improvements needed to be made in the apartments given to the team.

Jenkins had said, ‘‘Though the apartments are very nice, some work still needs to be completed like fixtures and other minor details. We are going through all the apartments to ensure that everything is ready for the athletes when they arrive.’’

The Kiwis, with a 300-plus strong contingent, have been provided an entire tower in the Village, say sources.

‘‘While the towers numbered 1-15 are in good condition, the towers numbered higher are not fully ready. These are some of the towers that were allotted to the Kiwis, Canadians and the other two teams,’’ explained an official.

New excavation by ASI at Siri Fort will Be Showcased to CWG Visitors

2010-09-20T06:32:00.000-07:00

You may have passed by the remains of Siri Fort wall on the busy Khel Gaon Marg several times without even noticing it. But now the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will shed light on the historical 14th century fortification wall, built during the regime of Alauddin Khilji.

The ASI has excavated buried portions of the wall near Gargi College on Siri Fort Road. These portions will be illuminated to attract visitors using this stretch during the Commonwealth Games.

According to historians, the entire area from Gargi College to Siri Fort Auditorium near Shahpurjat is rich in history and one can find innumerable archaeological remains there. ‘‘Till now, one could see portions of Siri Fort wall only on Khel Gaon Marg while going towards the auditorium. We decided to excavate the buried portions of Siri Fort wall near Gargi College for the first time. Nothing was visible in the area because of the dense vegetation. The stretch is likely to be used frequently during the Games as it leads to the Siri Fort Sports Complex, one of the venues. We, therefore, wanted people to see the fortification wall as they drive past it,’’ said an official.

Sources said excavation of almost 1-km stretch of the wall took up to four months. ‘‘We raised the height to about 4-feet above the ground so that the wall can be seen by onlookers. As most of the work has been completed, we will soon hand over the site to DDA for landscaping and illumination of the wall,’’ said sources. The iron bridge erected on the road by the Army to connect to a parking lot will be removed after the Games and ASI officials said permission for this was only temporary.

Recent excavation at the Siri Fort wall has led to discoveries in the form of gates, bastions and ramparts. Earlier, only traces of one of the seven existing gateways could be found in the debris near the auditorium but over the last several years fresh evidence in the shape of the fortification wall has been unearthed. Historians claim there could be a buried palace complex within the Siri Fort wall ruins.

Touted as a new tourist destination for the city, excavations have been carried out at Siri Fort wall for the past few years. Experts said as the site is huge, they have to choose different points for digging where there is more evidence of buried ruins. Most of the other excavations of the wall have taken place on both sides of the road leading to Shahpurjat. ‘‘We want to expose the whole circle of Siri Fort wall in the same way it was done with Qila Rai Pithora some years ago,’’ said officials.

Officials said there were chances of stumbling upon forgotten artifacts like glazed pottery or vessels during excavation. If one chronicles history, one realizes there is a possibility of discovering skeletal remains of Mongol warriors in the fortification wall and officials are hoping to unearth something new that will shed light on the era of Alauddin Khilji.

HERITAGE TRAIL

Buried portions of Siri Fort wall have been excavated near Gargi College on Khel Gaon Marg This area was earlier covered with dense vegetation ASI has raised the wall’s height by 4ft to make it visible to passersby Remains of the 14th-century wall will be illuminated for Games visitors Site to be handed over to DDA which will carry out landscaping Till now, only portions of wall near Siri Fort Auditorium near Shahpurjat could be seen Only one of seven gateways was visible earlier

Zoo Themed Products from Toys to Apparel will be Sold to CWG Visitors

2010-09-20T06:31:00.000-07:00

Come October and the Delhi Zoo will have its own souvenir shop where a large assortment of zoo-themed products from toys to apparel will be available on sale for Commonwealth Games visitors.

“We expect a large number of visitors both domestic and foreign particularly during the Games slated to be held from October 3. We would like them to go home with souvenirs portraying zoo logos,” Delhi Zoo Director Anand Krishna said. Besides athletes and delegates from 53 countries, thousands of foreign tourists are expected to flock the capital for the mega sports event.

Games OC Assures for Games Security

2010-09-20T06:27:00.000-07:00

Hours after two gunmen fired at a foreign tourist party near Gate No 3 of Jama Masjid on Sunday, the Delhi Police increased security at all important installations in the city. Security at all historical and religious places like Red Fort and Akshardham Temple as well as government buildings was stepped up. Police said all local calls made in the central Delhi area during and immediately after the attack were being scanned and occupants of the hotels at Daryaganj and Jama Masjid area were being verified.

Police have already barricaded Red Fort and are asking visitors to go through stringent checks. ‘‘We have increased our presence in the railway stations and ISBTs. Highest security is being accorded to the venues,’’ said a senior north district officer.

With the Commonwealth Games round the corner, residents have started questioning whether deployment of 40% of the district staff for CWG training and deployment was affecting day-to-day policing operations in the city. Delhi Police, however, vehemently denied any such notion and said new officers have been inducted in the force to tackle the situation. ‘‘Extra deployment from the additional forces are being made accordingly,’’ said a senior central district officer.

The Union home ministry is closely monitoring the investigations into the shooting incident near the Jama Masjid here on Sunday and has sought a report from the Delhi police. Senior home ministry officials said they are keeping a close watch on the developments in the wake of the firing incident, which comes just days ahead of the Commonwealth Games. Delhi, which was already on alert in view of the CWG, has been put on high alert after the shooting incident.

Meanwhile, the CWG Organizing Committee said the incident on Sunday morning will not have any impact on the Games next month and assured that India would provide foolproof security to the visiting athletes and officials.

CWG OC spokesperson Lalit Bhanot said the country’s security establishment has made elaborate arrangements to ensure that the participants and officials are safe during the Games. ‘‘The ministry of home affairs and Delhi Police have made elaborate arrangements to provide the Commonwealth Games athletes and officials a safe and secure environment,’’ Bhanot said in the statement.

‘‘The Commonwealth Games Associations of the nations and territories have been satisfied with the plans and preparations made by Delhi Police and the International Security Liaison Group, formed by the ministry of home affairs,’’ he said.

Games Security: NSG and Indian Air Force to train Delhi Police Commandos

2010-09-20T06:24:00.001-07:00

To thwart any aerial threat during the Commonwealth Games, about 150 personnel of Delhi Police’s Special Weapons and Tactics Team have been trained by the IAF and the NSG to shoot down suspicious manned and unmanned “flying objects”.

Besides select commandos, IPS officers designated as Commonwealth Games venue commanders in charge of the venues have also been given specialized training by NSG as well as IAF. “The module was aimed at imparting skills to gun down manned and unmanned flying objects. They have received training to detect and detonate remote control flying planes or other aerial object,” a senior Delhi Police officer said requesting anonymity.

He said the trained commandos will be deployed at vantage points inside and outside 13 Games venues as snipers.

The training session was attended by senior officers and central paramilitary forces, sources said. The men were given special lessons to tackle any sort of terror strikes and a host of other situations like hostage crises and stampede, they said.

Over 70 countries are likely to participate in the sporting event scheduled here between October 3 and 14. Delhi Police and central security agencies are striving hard to ensure adequate security for the event, which is being hosted by the country for the first time. More than one lakh security personnel would be seen in action during the Games including about 175 companies (17,500 personnel) of paramilitary forces, 3,000 commandos, 100 anti sabotage teams, 200 dogs and 15 bomb disposal squads.

In view of the possibility of terror attack, the government has roped in Army specialists to operate jammers and signal decryption equipment at the Games venues. These precautions are aimed at preventing terrorists from triggering explosions by remote-control.

No parking near 470 sites

2010-09-20T06:22:00.000-07:00

Reacting to the incident at Jama Masjid which has led to a scare in the city, the lieutenant-governor, Tejendra Khanna, held an emergency meeting with the police commissioner, YS Dadwal, and senior officials of the agencies concerned to take stock of the situation on Sunday.

The meeting discussed the law and order situation and saw the LG issue directions to the CP to introduce special security measures with immediate effect. A senior official pointed out that there are 470 sites which have been identified as sensitive or high-risk in the city.

Thus the first step towards taking special measures to enhance security would be to put these points under strict vigil.

Delhi Police said they have also asked the officials at these places to install CCTVs since they are high on the list of possible targets for a terror attack.

‘‘The security on premises has to be beefed up and we have asked them to deploy armed guards wherever required. We have also intensified patrolling and deployment at vital installations,’’ added a police officer.

On the allegations made by the Shahi Imam and others at Jama Masjid that the requisite security measures were not in place despite reminders to the police, senior officials refused to comment. However, the LG’s office said that letters had been written time and again to religious institutions like Jama Masjid, Akshardham temple and others asking them to make security arrangements like CCTV cameras.

Some of the heritage sites where these curbs will now apply are Qutab Minar, Jama Masjid, Purana Qila, Humanyun’s Tomb, India Gate, Jantar Mantar, Red Fort, Safdarjung Tomb, Delhi Gate, Kashmere Gate, Turkman Gate, Fatehpuri Masjid and Tughlaqabad Fort.

Among vital installations and iconic buildings are Lotus Temple, Akshardham Temple, Kalakji Temple, Jhandewalan Temple, Indian Oil building, Birla Temple, Reserve Bank of India, PTI building, Police headquarters, Shastri Bhavan, Delhi University, Pallika Sadan Kendra, Palika Bazar, NDMC building, Connaught Place and Safdarjung Airport.

These restrictions are going to cause a lot of inconvenience for people in the city and could also lead to police highhandedness. Two-wheeler drivers have always been the favorite whipping boys of the cops only at the check-posts.

No parking near 470 sites

2010-09-20T06:21:00.000-07:00

No Pillion Riding Near These Places, Say Cops After LG Meet

Hours after the attack on two foreign tourists outside the historic Jama Masjid, Delhi Police came out with a list of 470 sites where security has been upgraded and restrictions imposed.

All such sites will have no parking within 100 meters. Also bikers with pillion riders will not be allowed anywhere near them. The decisions were taken as part of special security measures being implemented on the directions of the lieutenant governor of Delhi.

Brave heart Rickshaw Puller Chased Attackers; threw stones at them

2010-09-20T06:20:00.000-07:00

We Salute the Brave heart rickshaw Puller who Show the Spirit of the Country

Salim, a 26-year-old rickshaw-puller, didn’t cower in fear when he saw the two assailants open fire. He picked up a stone and hurled them at the attackers, turning into an unlikely hero.

He was dropping a passenger at Gate No. 3 when he noticed the two gunmen opening fire on the tourist bus. Seeing Salim charging towards them, the two men panicked and dropped a magazine at the spot. He was also the one who alerted the cops nearby after which the police started chasing them. One of the constables, Pramod, posted at the gate, tried to chase the men.

Both Pramod and Salim have given investigators leads on which the probe will progress. Pramod said the two men were wearing helmets and the pillion rider was armed. Salim, meanwhile, told a famous English Daily that ‘‘one man had the bike’s engine running while the pillion rider had just finished firing the shots. He tried threatening me with the gun, but when he saw that I had a stone in hand, he panicked and dropped several live cartridges on the ground. Before I could reach them, they zoomed off.’’

‘‘I was talking to a customer when I heard the shots and saw the men escaping. My father, who was sitting nearby, told me these were gunshots and that’s why I ran to see what had happened. The men were on the bike and disappeared in a matter of seconds,’’ said B K Srivastav, who owns a shop near Gate No.3.

Other eyewitnesses said a policeman tried to follow the assailants on foot but bent down to pick up the live cartridges instead. Some other policemen reportedly followed the attackers but eventually lost the trail. The eyewitnesses also claimed that the attackers fired a shot in the air near Gate No.5 to get away without any hassle. ‘‘I saw the men zooming past my shop. They were on a Passion Plus bike and the pillion rider was wearing a green shirt while the rider was wearing black. They appeared clean shaven and were quite tall and well-built,’’ said Imran, who owns a shop near Gate No. 5.

‘I heard the shots and at first thought they were Chinese crackers that can be found in the market. It was only later that we realized what had happened,’’ said Abdul Qavi, who lives near Gate No. 5.

It Seems the God of Rains Do Not to Have Games Successful

2010-09-20T06:19:00.001-07:00

The month’s wettest day, with heavy rain in the morning and an incessant drizzle thereafter, made Sunday the coldest September day in Delhi in at least five years. The maximum temperature crashed to 23.6 degrees Celsius 10 degrees below normal barely 0.5 degrees above the minimum temperature. The city saw 56.2mm rain till 8.30pm; most of it came between 8.30am and 11.30am.

Records show this is the wettest monsoon in Delhi since 1978. Rainfall since June 1 has touched 949mm, just a shade lower than 965.1mm recorded during the monsoon of 1978. Sunday’s rain also took Delhi’s rainfall during September to 250.6mm, the highest since 1998 when 280.4 mm was recorded.

With heavy rains in northwest India, Delhi faces possibly its worst flood threat this season. The Hathnikund barrage increased its releases from 7pm on Saturday, reaching almost 6.92 lakh cusec on Sunday.

Terrorist Try to Spread Fear But Cannot Wipe Games Spirit

2010-09-20T06:17:00.000-07:00

In a strike clearly aimed at creating fear and uncertainty ahead of the Commonwealth Games, two motorcycle-borne assailants opened fire on a group of Taiwanese nationals outside Jama Masjid on Sunday morning. Two tourists were injured in the attack, triggering a clampdown by the Delhi government.

The timing of the attack the anniversary of the Batla House shootout and an email by Indian Mujahideen claiming responsibility, indicate that the planners had focused on sending a ‘message’ rather than inflicting huge damage. It pointed to the continuing strategy of terrorists of picking soft targets like foreign nationals at public places.

More than two hours after the shooting, a Maruti 800 parked close to the site mysteriously caught fire. Later, the bomb disposal squad found a pressure cooker fitted with a crude device, which could be an explosive or an inflammable substance, on the rear seat.

The two Taiwanese victims, Ze-Weiku (35) and Chiang Ko (38), were rushed to Lok Nayak Hospital.

Ze-Weiku had a miraculous escape as a bullet grazed his head while Chiang Ko was hit in the right abdomen. Despite surgery, he is still stated to be critical.

CCTVs didn’t work, removed Installed after 2006 Blasts, the Cameras Didn’t Function; Metal Detectors at Jama Masjid Too Are Faulty

Jama Masjid is located in a congested and sensitive area and should be top priority for security measures, but Sunday’s attack has exposed many lapses on part of the cops.

The historic monument which witnessed two blasts on April 14, 2006 no longer has the 20 CCTV cameras that were installed soon after that incident. The cameras were removed just 15 days ago since they had stopped functioning. The metal detectors installed at the gates are not working properly and the number of policemen deployed at the monument has also thinned down as most of the cops have been put on Commonwealth Games duty.

The two attackers on Sunday fired several times at the tourists in front of Gate No.3 and managed to escaped though the police station is located barely a few hundred metres away. Due to the heavy footfall of foreigners and locals, cops says they find it impossible to scan each and every individual. The traffic congestion and narrow lanes near the mosque make it more vulnerable to such attacks.

After the incident on Sunday, the cops were seen removing vendors from the road, but the damage was already done.

The Shahi Imam of the mosque, Ahmed Bukhari, claimed that the CCTV cameras were installed after ‘‘Delhi Police asked Delhi the wakf board to step up security. Despite repeated requests to the wakf board to make the cameras work, nothing happened. Finally, we got them removed 15 days ago and sent them back to the board,’’ claimed the Imam.

Police said most of the doorframe metal detectors were not working and hence hand-held detectors were used. ‘‘On rush days, it is impossible to check each and every visitor. We have a strong police presence in and around the mosque and all the gates are manned by policemen round the clock,’’ said a police officer.

Meanwhile, the mosque authorities claimed they have been requesting the Union home ministry orally and in writing to increase security measures at Jama Masjid. The Shahi Imam had in May this year written to home minister P Chidambaram seeking upgrading of security at the mosque. He had suggested measures like installation of CCTV cameras and deployment of CRPF personnel. Bukhari said highly trained personnel were needed to man Jama Masjid as it had been targeted by terrorists in 2006.

Syed Yahya Bukhari, the Imam’s younger brother and president of Jama Masjid United Forum, claimed the metal detectors were only for show and could be easily bypassed by people entering the mosque as the police personnel deployed there were not present always. ‘‘Even if some higher authority comes to check whether security measures are in place, the personnel are tipped in advance and they are there on duty when the checking takes place. This doesn’t help anybody,’’ he said.

According to Health Officials Dengue will peak around Games

2010-09-01T12:56:00.001-07:00

Delhi may be in the throes of a dengue outbreak but the worst is yet to come. And it will coincide with the Games.

The disease, according to health officials, will peak after September 15 which means that the Games are all set to happen in peak dengue season. The situation, experts say, could have been avoided had the MCD and the Delhi government worked in tandem to preempt it rather than start fire-fighting when it becomes a menace and also trade blame.

The shortcomings were driven home once more on Tuesday when an alarmed Union health ministry asked the city government to step up dengue control measures even as 74 new cases were confirmed, taking the total tally to 937. ‘‘Dengue situation in the capital is alarming. The health secretary is monitoring the situation. We don’t want a dengue scare during the Games,’’ said a health ministry official.

MCD blames massive construction work and the rains for the spurt but does not have answers about why four years after the last outbreak it did not have a game plan to tackle these factors — none of which are unprecedented — in a more effective way. In fact given the cyclical nature of dengue, an outbreak was almost due, doctors say.

‘‘Almost all Games related projects are behind the schedule and the entire city is dug up. The disease will reach its peak after September 15,’’ said Dr V K Monga, chairman of health committee, MCD.

It is the usual blame game with Delhi government putting the onus on MCD and MCD alleging they did not receive enough funds from the city government. ‘‘MCD started awareness drives in July when dengue had already started happening,” said a senior government doctor. Sources said that of the Rs 80 lakh sanctioned for creating public awareness, MCD has spent only Rs 25 lakh.

But MCD officials said funds were not enough. ‘‘We had asked for Rs 79 crore, but they sanctioned only Rs 22 crore of which only Rs 11 crore has been released. We could not hire more domestic breeding checkers and failed to pay salary to existing DBCs,’’ said an official.

Health minister Kiran Walia sang the same tune. ‘‘Our hospitals are ready. But as for preventive measures, the health department can only assist the civic agencies. MCD has been given adequate funds,’’ Walia said.

‘‘The cyclic nature of the disease is responsible for more number of cases every four years, but it should have been uniform. NCR region is not reporting so many cases. Of the 937 cases just 21 odd cases have been reported from outside Delhi,’’ said a senior doctor with National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme.

Now Games Merchandise on Sale from tomorrow

2010-09-01T12:55:00.002-07:00

There’s yet another deadline for the merchandise launch. Now, top sources in the organizing committee (OC) of Commonwealth Games 2010 say the Games merchandise will be available from September 2. The products will be available at the store being set up at the OC headquarters on Jai Singh road, opposite Jantar Mantar.

Said a senior OC official, ‘‘The launch has been earmarked for September 2, with the store offering around 25 types of various Games merchandise.’’ The earlier manufacturing company, Premier Brands is back, and is planning to set up a slew of stores before the Games start. Said Suresh Kumar of Premier Brands Limited (PBL), ‘‘In the beginning, we will start with the single store in the OC headquarters, as well as four mobile vans that will take the merchandise to the doorsteps.’’ The vans, which will visit schools, residential areas and shopping malls, will be offering a range of products — from T-shirts and mugs to key-chains, wrist bands, pens and several other memorabilia. The product prices will range from Rs 20-300. Kumar said no product will be priced more than Rs 300 in the first phase of the merchandise launch.

In the second phase, around 5-6 new stores will be set up in the next fortnight in various parts of the city for the sale of merchandise. On September 30, over 65 stores will be opened at all the venues for the sale of Games products, informed Kumar. Meanwhile, PBL also plans to launch a high-end range of products from September 15 for the foreign delegates and players. The products will be the same but of higher quality, and of a higher price range, said Kumar.

The royalty agreement between the OC and PBL remains the same, claimed OC officials, though ‘‘certain concessions’’ have been made to PBL for the late launch, admitted sources. Officials, however, were unwilling to talk about these discussions. Earlier this month, PBL had pulled out of the deal with the OC citing loss in revenue due to the delayed launch for merchandise.

Home Minister Admitted funds for SC/ST Used for Infrastructure Development

2010-09-01T12:55:00.001-07:00

Union home minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday admitted in the Rajya Sabha that the Delhi government had erred in diverting funds earmarked for SCs/STs to develop infrastructure for the Commonwealth Games.

Chidambaram made the remark while replying to questions raised in the Upper House over the diversion of over Rs 678 crore from the funds which were to be used for programmes for SCs/STs.

‘‘In my view, prima facie, using Rs 678.91 crore out of Scheduled Caste Sub Plan (SCSP) to contribute for CWG appears to be wrong,’’ home minister P Chidambaram said.

Responding to demands made by MPs, he said this money spent from the SCSP would be brought back to the welfare fund. The minister at the same time maintained that the fund is given to states under two categories divisible and indivisible and the diversion of the fund from indivisible category has been happening in many states.

The minister said the Planning Commission was aware of the matter. Chidambaram said the Planning Commission has constituted a committee headed by one of its members, Narendra Jadhav, to re-examine how the guidelines of the Plan panel on the SCSP Tribal Sub Plan can be implemented properly.

Last Thursday, the government had admitted that over Rs 670 crore meant for SC welfare projects were diverted by the Delhi government for Commonwealth Games, triggering protests in the Rajya Sabha from BJP, BSP and Left.

Between 2006-07 and the current fiscal, out of Rs 7,062.76 crore (under indivisible funds), Rs 678.91 crore was given for the Games projects, Chidambaram had said in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

Elevated Road at Barapullah Nullah Shows no Sign of Completition

2010-09-01T12:54:00.000-07:00

After missing several deadlines, a semblance of completion of the elevated road on Barapullah Nullah is now being turned into a PR exercise. The last segment all set to be launched on Wednesday afternoon in the presence of PWD minister Raj Kumar Chauhan. There is, however, still no clarity about the actual completion date or when trial runs can start.

Sources in Delhi government said that the minister will launch the lifting of the last segment and the engineers would need three hours to fix it. Chauhan confirmed that he would visit the spot. ‘‘This is a crucial project and we will complete the fixing of all segments on Wednesday. The project will be completely ready by September 14,’’ the minister said.

PWD officials said that by Tuesday night lifting and fixing of 447 of the 448 segments would have been completed. ‘‘The last one will be fixed tomorrow (Wednesday) over the railway tracks. So with this we will complete the main work within the given deadline. It will take another fortnight to complete the finishing work including illumination of the entire stretch,’’ said a senior PWD official.

No decision has yet been taken on the final date for the trial run of the elevated corridor which connects Ring Road near Sarai Kale Khan with Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. It is supposed to provide seamless transportation for sportspersons and Games officials and as such will be completely taken over by Delhi Police by September 15 as per the set security drill.

Officials say that for the past few weeks several top babus have visited the site along with people from the chief minister’s office. The pace of work on the road has been a major cause for concern and things had for a while seemed headed for the worst when the contractor asked for additional payment for use of launchers. Inspection after inspection has since happened including one by cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar and the road kept missing deadlines. It continues to do so even as the PWD minister looks for some publicity out of being present at the launch of the “final” segment after the many inspections that he has carried out there.

The Rs 550 crore project was originally scheduled to be completed in June this year.

Failed MCD Now Seeks People Help in Cleaning Debris

2010-09-01T12:53:00.000-07:00

Having failed to clean the city before Commonwealth Games, MCD has now sought public participation. The civic body, along with voluntary organization Let’s Do It Delhi, on Tuesday announced a ‘Clean Delhi Challenge’ to be held on September 11.

The idea is to include community groups, educational institutions and corporate in a special sanitation drive-cum-contest across the city on that day. Mayor Prithvi Raj Sawhney said the initiative will be open to all organizations, residents’ welfare associations, companies, colleges, NGOs and government departments.

‘‘All groups entering the contest will get a certificate from MCD and there will be special winners’ certificates for groups based on the volume of litter collected as well as how clean they have made an area,” Sawhney said.

‘Let’s Do It Delhi’ programme director Anita Bharghav gave the example of Estonia where 50,000 people cleaned up the entire country, collecting 10,000 tonnes of garbage, in five hours. ‘‘We can play our part in improving sanitation conditions in the city. Everybody can join. Let’s do it,’’ she said.

For the challenge, participants will have to choose a location of at least half-a-square kilometer, get their own volunteers or hire cleaners. The litter collected will be taken away by the civic agency later. The winners will be chosen from 12 MCD zones by a panel of judges.

After Poor Games Show Now Tourists have no Interest in CWG

2010-09-01T12:52:00.002-07:00

It’s not just the Queen of England uninterested in coming to Delhi for the Commonwealth Games. Ticket sales by the Commonwealth Games Associations (CGA) show that even spectators from Commonwealth countries are not buying tickets for the Delhi Games 2010. As per sales figures, only 16,000 tickets have been sold so far by the 70 CGAs in-charge of selling the tickets in their respective countries. Interestingly, the Jamaican CGA, headed by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) president Michael Fennell, has not been able to sell a single ticket till date.

As per an agreement with the CGF, the organizing committee (OC) of the Delhi Games 2010 has booked 10 per cent of the total ticket allocation for the CGAs, making around 1.7 lakh tickets available to them. Of these, 78,000 are for the spectators. However, only 16,000 tickets, worth around Rs 4 crore, have been sold till now by the CGAs, say sources. What makes the sales figures even more alarming are the fact that CGAs have time till September 5 to sell these tickets, after which, they would revert to the OC. However, with sales being so slow, sources admitted that the chances of more tickets being sold in Commonwealth countries are negligible. Said a source, ‘‘The feedback has been extremely dismal. Till now, at least 50% of the tickets should have been sold.’’

The reasons for the slow sales are varied, said OC sources. From the negative buzz surrounding the Delhi Games 2010 to the lack of appeal of India as a sporting destination, all have been trotted forward to explain the phenomenon of no foreign sales. Officials say while India may have an attraction as an exotic destination, the concept of Delhi as a sports haven hasn’t exactly caught on abroad. The fact that many of these Commonwealth countries also have a small population has also been suggested as a reason. Said an official, ‘‘Some of these countries have a really small population, so expecting a large spectator turnout from these countries is not realistic.’’

Thankfully for the OC, ticket sales in the country have picked up meanwhile. Sources said 79,000 tickets have been sold maximum for the ceremonies. While the opening ceremony has sold over 10,000 tickets, the number is slightly over 5,000 for the closing ceremony. Interestingly, around 117 tickets costing Rs 50,000 each have been sold till now, while 203 tickets of Rs 25,000 each have been taken off the shelf.

As per agreement with the Commonwealth Games Federation, 10% of the tickets have to be given to CWG Associations for sale in Commonwealth countries With the organizing committee (OC) planning to sell 17 lakh tickets, around 1.7 lakh tickets were given to CGAs After deducting sponsors and other tickets for distribution by CGAs, 78,000 tickets for spectators to be sold by CGAs Ticket sales by CGAs till date 16,000 Total sales in India (till Sunday) 78,900 Opening ceremony 10,350 Closing ceremony 5,750 Rs 50,000 (category A) tickets sold 117 Rs 25,000 (category B) tickets sold 203 Rs 5,000 (category C) tickets sold 3,500 Rs 1,000 (category D) tickets sold 5,900 Most tickets sold for hockey 16,000 Least tickets sold for lawn bowl 555

Central Secretariat to Qutub Minar Metro line to be Opened on September 3rd

2010-09-01T12:52:00.001-07:00

The much-awaited Central Secretariat to Qutub Minar Metro line will be opened to public at 3pm on September 3. With this, Delhi Metro’s existing Line 2 Central Secretariat to Jehangirpuri will get linked to the Gurgaon section, from Qutub to Huda City Centre, making it the longest Metro line in the city. With trains running at a frequency of three minutes, commuters will be able to cover the 45-km distance in just an hour and 20 minutes at a fare of only Rs 29.

The new section was inspected by the commissioner of metro rail safety (CMRS), RK Kardam, on Monday and Tuesday. He has given the necessary safety clearances. ‘‘The Central Secretariat-Qutub Minar Metro corridor will be inaugurated by Union UD minister S Jaipal Reddy and Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit on September 3 at Udyog Bhawan station. The section will be opened to public at 3pm the same day. A formal clearance of the section from CMRS is expected shortly,’’ said a DMRC spokesperson.

However, even as the opening date for this line was announced, the stations on the underground line appear far from ready. The entry points to the Metro stations are unpaved and dug up at important locations such as AIIMS, Green Park, INA, etc. The way things stand, those headed to the stations will not be able to access them easily.

According to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), it has handed over the roads to New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and the pavements outside stations are being redone as part of streetscaping for the Commonwealth Games. ‘‘The digging is part of streetscaping work on the roads, which we have already handed over to the concerned road-owning agencies such as NDMC. The line and stations are totally ready,’’ said a DMRC spokesperson.

Officials revealed that even DMRC is skeptical about the ongoing work outside stations and expects it to be wrapped up before the line is opened on Friday. NDMC, meanwhile, couldn’t be contacted for a response. The opening of the line was slightly delayed after DMRC submitted the necessary documents to CMRS, but had to later provide more documents before a date could be set for the inspection.

The underground Central Secretariat-Qutub Minar section has 11 stations — at Udyog Bhawan, Race Course Road, Jor Bagh, INA, AIIMS, Green Park, Hauz Khas, Malviya Nagar, Saket and Qutub Minar. DMRC plans to run 40 trains on the line at a frequency of three minutes. In all, there will be 34 Metro stations on the line of which 20 are underground and 14 elevated. A total 3.6 lakh commuters are expected to use the section by 2011.

PM Instructs Staff to Double Efforts

2010-08-30T11:05:00.001-07:00

With 34 days left for the Commonwealth Games, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday visited the centerpiece Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the venue of the opening and closing ceremonies. He asked officials to ‘‘redouble their efforts to quickly complete’’ the work as people ‘‘expect a spectacular’’ opening to the mega event.

Accompanied by sports minister M S Gill and Commonwealth Games organizing committee chairperson Suresh Kalmadi, the prime minister was shown various facilities at the complex, including the field of play, media facilities, VIP box, stands for spectators. He was also apprised of security and other arrangements.

Said B K Chugh of the CPWD, ‘‘The PM discussed a number of issues with senior officials at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, from traffic to security and other matters.’’ CPWD officials admitted the PM also discussed delay in construction work. Said a senior CPWD official, ‘‘Officials present were asked to ensure that the work was on schedule, especially with little time left to complete the job.’’

‘‘The prime minister said it was a beautiful stadium and he urged all concerned authorities to redouble their efforts to quickly complete whatever works remained,’’ noted a statement issued by Prime Minister’s Office.

Manmohan Singh reached the bowl-shaped stadium around noon to take stock of the venue. ‘‘He was at the stadium for 25 minutes and spoke to officials about Games preparedness,’’ said an official.

The prime minister’s visit to the stadium also came two days after Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit confirmed the August 31 deadline for completion of all Games-related projects would not be met. She said the city, however, will be ready at least 15 days before the Games start from October 3, ‘‘provided the sun shines and rain stops’’.

Games Merchandize in Market this Week

2010-08-30T11:04:00.000-07:00

A month after the scheduled date, the organizing committee (OC) is still claiming that merchandise for the Commonwealth Games 2010 will be available ‘‘soon’’.

On Sunday, senior OC officials said merchandise would be unveiled for the Delhi Games ‘‘within this week’’. Said a senior CWG official connected with the merchandise function, ‘‘The difficulties with Premier Brands the company manufacturing the merchandise for OC has been resolved. We expect the products to hit the market this week.’’

The decision to launch the products ranging from T-shirts, caps, wrist bands and other memorabilia to home furnishings comes after months of delay in launching the merchandise. The launch was to take place on July 15, which was delayed to the first week of August. But this deadline too could not be met.

Sources said the decision to launch the products had been decided for August 6-7, but got cancelled at the last minute. On August 13, the company which had been selected to manufacture the merchandise, Premier Brands, pulled out of the deal, citing the delay which it claimed made it impossible for it to make any profits. However, on August 28, in an executive board meeting, the deal with PBL was revived, said OC officials.

Sources said products worth Rs 3 crore had already been manufactured by PBL, which makes the launch of the merchandise possible. Officials connected with the merchandising operation admit the last two months leading up to the Games are crucial, not only in terms of revenue for the OC but also to drum up enthusiasm and public interest in the Delhi Games.

Incidentally, products bearing the CWG logo have already started appearing in many markets. Shopping havens like Janpath and Sarojini Nagar can be seen selling T-shirts and other apparel bearing the Games logo in numbers but the products are not endorsed by the OC.

Shivaji Stadium to miss games deadline

2010-08-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

After the Central Vista, it seems to be the turn of Shivaji Stadium to miss the Commonwealth Games 2010 deadline. The stadium, which is being built by New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), was to be part of the list of practice venues for athletes who are expected to start arriving from September 23. However, organizing committee (OC) officials say the facility is not even near completion. ‘‘As of now, we are not taking a call on Shivaji Stadium. We have already lined up other venues in case the stadium is not completed on time,’’ admitted Lalit Bhanot, secretary general, OC.

Earlier last month, Central Vista where the finals of the archery event were to take place was taken off the list of venues for Delhi Games 2010. Reason: late start of work. In fact, preparations for the event, which involved setting up temporary structures, had not even started. The finals were then shifted to Yamuna Sports Complex the competition venue for archery.

In case of Shivaji Stadium, NDMC claims the stadium is being rebuilt for legacy purposes. However, with only a part of the stadium expected to be handed over to the OC, the fact is that the stadium was to be the training venue for hockey. This was revealed by the ministry of youth affairs and sports, which has the stadium listed on its training venue schedule.

Anand Tiwari, NDMC spokesperson, claimed the civic agency had only been asked to hand over parts of the stadium to OC. Said Tiwari, ‘‘A major portion of the stadium building is for legacy purposes. Only the field of play, ground floor and the technology room is to be handed over to the OC by mid-September and we are working on it.’’

OC officials claim even if the stadium is not complete on time, it will use the premises of other competition venues for training purposes. The stadium, which had been intended for hockey practice and as a swimming arena, will now be replaced by Major Dhyan Chand Stadium and SP Mukherjee Swimming Pool Complex. With not even the structure of Shivaji stadium near completion, it seems the stadium will not be ready for practice sessions. Said a senior NDMC official, ‘‘There is a lot of work to be completed, and the field of play is yet to be ready.’’

Incidentally, Shivaji Stadium is not the only training venue to be lagging behind. Both Delhi Development Authority (DDA) training venues Yamuna Sports Complex and Siri Fort complex are still to be completed.

Two Cyclist Injured During Event

2010-08-30T11:02:00.000-07:00

The capital’s first brush with an international road cycling event touted by many as a trial run for the Commonwealth Games on Sunday ended with cyclists lambasting the quality of the track. Rubble lying in and around the cycle track in Connaught Place made cycling difficult. To make matters worse, thick dust affected visibility. Two cyclists even suffered injuries fortunately, only minor ones.

‘‘One cyclist fell down near LIC Bhawan in Connaught Place. His cycle hit the pavement while he was practicing. The impact was such that the rim of the front wheel got distorted. The other cyclist got injured as he fell down while trying to overtake another participant. His cycle skidded due
to the rubble,” said sources.

Akil Khan, managing director of ID sports, the event’s organizing body, confirmed the injuries. ‘‘One of them was treated in the tent and the other one, a professional, had to be taken to the hospital for treatment,’’ said Khan.

The capital hosted its first international cycling event on Sunday. It saw participants from 10 countries including South Africa, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Holland and Belgium and was flagged off by CWG organizing committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi. But things went rapidly downhill almost immediately thereafter.

Almost all participants complained of uneven tracks and faulty cycles. Said Arran Brown (South Africa), the winner of the international-elite, “The bollards (barriers) put in the middle of the road kept falling. Due to this, it became very tough for us to maintain high speed. Also, there was rubble lying on the road at places.”

Sherin from Philippines had to quit the race due to a flat tire. He complained, “I was leading the race in the first lap, but my tyre burst. It hit a small sharp rock on the track. The organizers should keep such things in mind. No one provided me with a spare tyre, although they were carrying spare tyres.’’

Another problem witnessed during the mega event was that people could be seen criss-crossing the road even as the race went on. With the subways in Connaught Place closed for renovation, impatient pedestrians could be seen flouting traffic rules in front of
the policemen and crossing the road or the circuit. Stray dogs were also seen on the cycling track.

Apart from the international elite race, there were four categories of cycling contests which included the national elite ride (50 km), junior ride (5 km) and corporate ride (25 km). The cyclothon which began at 7am and ended by 12.30pm, was flagged off from Parliament Street. It covered Patel Chowk, Janpath, Rajpath, Vijay Chowk and Connaught Place. While OC chairman Suresh Kalmadi flagged off the event, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit was present to award the winners. Dikshit did not speak to the media. Talking about the preparations, Kalmadi said, ‘‘We can trace any defects in the management by keeping an eye on this event. Cycling will be an important event in the Games. I am sure cycling will catch up all over the country with events like these.’’

Due to large-scale renovation work going on in CP area, permission for this event was held back for long, only to be cleared at the last moment. Roads in Outer circle, which were in bad shape till Saturday, were pitched hurriedly within 24 hours before the event. There was rubble left behind and at some places the road was uneven.

No Plans for Heritage Sites

2010-08-28T05:45:00.000-07:00

The story of modern New Delhi began at this spot. It was here the King Emperor announced with great pomp on December 11, 1911, that the capital would move from Calcutta, but barely 38 days before the Commonwealth Games, Delhi Tourism admits it has no plans for the derelict wasteland called the Coronation Memorial.

This unconcern is seen to make bad business sense, ahead of a sporting event that is themed around a commonwealth of former colonies and expects to draw thousands of tourists from countries that have had a similar experience with imperialism.

At least 7 lakh British tourists visit India every year and thousands more from other former British colonies. British expats here agree their countrymen would be happy to pay good money to see the Memorial’s towering obelisk announcing the imperial Delhi c 1911 on the exact spot where King George V and Queen Mary sat. The Memorial, in the far north of the capital, hosted three imperial darbars in 1877, 1903 and 1911 and the canny English rulers of the day exploited marketing opportunities by selling souvenir guide books and hawking to Brook Bond Tea, the right to supply the Darbar’s official beverage.

But Delhi Tourism is clear it ‘‘has no plans as yet to include Coronation Memorial in its itinerary’’. Planning manager Amarjeet Singh adds that ‘‘the department as yet hasn’t received or mulled over any proposal to conduct visitors to the Coronation Memorial through day trips.’’

Tourism plans for the forlorn park have been in the works for five years but the site remains a junkyard of Raj-era statues, all but engulfed by tick-ridden undergrowth.

In November 2005, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), India’s leading non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of heritage, announced they would restore the park as a tourist attraction.

But Brijesh Chander, DDA executive engineer responsible for the north zone, admits there is still no concrete plan in place and ‘‘the entire project of beautification and restoration of the Memorial is going to cost DDA around Rs 22 crore, for which INTACH has been appointed as consultant as well as implementer, (but the project) will only be completed by December 2011.

Chander said that ‘‘if some foreign tourists want to visit the Memorial during Commonwealth Games, we are trying to complete the entrance road that leads to the main pillar. For the rest, people have to wait till the end of next year.’’

The Memorial’s woeful state of neglect contrasts oddly with DDA’s stated intentions, as of October 30, 2007, in its approved Draft Zonal Development Plan. The Plan says, Coronation Memorial reminds of the foundation stone laid for Imperial Delhi as the new capital of India which was subsequently shifted at Raisina hill.

Coronation Park houses the marble statues of King George V, which was originally under the canopy at India Gate, and the other important personalities of the British period in India. An earlier zonal plan had proposed to develop this land as a play area for special children, similar to the one existing at India Gate.

The land around Coronation Pillar is under the jurisdiction of L&DO.It is near to NH-1 bypass and therefore it has the potential of being developed as a tourist spot. The adjoining area earmarked for green/water body can be taken for development of sports facilities, etc.

However, none of this has happened so far. In June 2009, Delhi announced it wanted to be one of 220 UNESCO World Heritage Cities and would create a heritage tourism route linking at least 30 big and small historical monuments, starting at the Coronation Memorial. The pilot project, funded by the World Monuments Fund (WMF), gave $200,000 as a start-up grant and the Memorial was meant to be part of this.

A G K Menon, convener of INTACH Delhi Chapter, which was asked by DDA to restore the Memorial, says,’ We are chalking out major plans for the Memorial’s centenary celebrations on December 11, 2011. By then, we shall be able to renovate and upgrade it. It is largely a conservation project of the 50-55 acres of the park area but it also requires some construction work such as building a cafe, souvenir shops, interpretation centres and a small museum or a photo gallery in the campus.

The entire plan would be implemented before the December 2011 deadline, even though we may not be able to tap the Commonwealth tourism this year.’’

Chattarpur Metro Station Open and Running

2010-08-28T05:44:00.000-07:00

It’s official now. The Chattarpur Metro station on the Qutub-Huda City Centre Metro line will be opened for public use on Thursday. The station the only one on the line which was not operational got the mandatory clearance from commissioner of Metro rail safety (CMRS) after an inspection on Wednesday.

The Metro station has been granted the necessary clearances for commencement of commuter operations. ‘‘The Chattarpur Metro station is going to be operational from Thursday,’’ the spokesperson added. It couldn’t be opened with the Qutub-Huda City Centre section in June this year due to land acquisition problems. The construction of the station started on October last year and was completed in a record time of just nine months.

‘‘The station was constructed using a unique method using special prefabricated/ structural steel. The conventional construction technique of making stations by concrete would have taken at least two years, which would have delayed the Metro line substantially,’’ the spokesperson added. The above procedure, however, cost an additional 30 to 50% expense to the DMRC.

The station will also have the largest parking area at any Metro station in the city. The parking lot has been built over an area of about 12,000sqm. From Thursday, about 4,000sqm of parking area will be available with the capacity of 800 two wheelers and 200 cars. The rest of the parking area will be opened in a phased manner.

Meanwhile, the CMRS is inspecting Delhi Metro’s Central Secretariat-Gurgaon section on Monday and Tuesday. The line will be operational by next week. ‘‘The CMRS, R K Kardam, is planning to inspect the Central Secretariat-Qutab Minar Metro corridor on August 30 and 31. The line will be opened for use as soon as it gets the necessary safety clearances,’’ said a DMRC spokesperson. The 12.53-km stretch has nine Metro stations at Udyog Bhawan, Race Course, Jorbagh, INA, AIIMS, Green Park, Hauz Khas, Malviya Nagar and Saket.

With the opening of this missing link in Line 2, the entire Jehangirpuri to Huda City Centre stretch will become the longest straight Metro line in the city. The construction of the line is over and trains trials have been on for a few months now.

OC Kept its Honor By Delaying Games Ticket Sales

2010-08-28T05:42:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, the Organizing Committee of the Commonwealth Games had announced with great fanfare that over-the-counter ticket sales to the public would begin on August 25. And so, Pushpender Sharma, a student and an athlete, reached OC headquarters at 9am sharp to buy a ticket. Nine hours later, he still hadn’t got one.

‘‘Officials at the OC headquarters sent me to the Central Bank, Parliament Street branch. The tickets were not available there either. They told me to come back at 3pm, then I was told to return at six. This is no way to treat people who wish to be a part of the CWG,’’ fumed Sharma. He wasn’t the only one complaining.

Officials at various outlets of Central Bank of India and Hero Honda the OC’s official ticketing partners admitted that many customers turned up in the morning, but had to go back disappointed. Said B S Harilal, assistant general manager at Central Bank of India (Parliament Street), ‘‘We kept sending people back through the day. More than 100 people turned up at our branch. We had to inform them that tickets were not available and they would have to return at 3pm. Finally, at 7 pm, we were able to sell tickets.’’

The scene was repeated across almost all the outlets designated by the OC for ticket sale.

OC cites tech snag for mess

The much-publicized sale of tickets for the Commonwealth Games was bit of a dampener with most of the designated counters turning away buyers as they were yet to receive the tickets. In fact, the Central Bank outlet in the organizing committee headquarters was summarily sending every customer to the Parliament Street branch without any explanation. B S Harilal, assistant general manager at Central Bank of India (Parliament Street) said they kept sending people back through the day. More than 100 people turned up at our branch, he said.

Yet again, it was the organizing committee the gang that can’t shoot straight to blame. It was still synchronizing the online ticket purchases that had been made till date with the stock of tickets available.
Said a senior organizing committee official, ‘‘Since the opening and closing ceremony tickets are numbered seats, synchronization of tickets that have already been purchased with the available stock is necessary. Besides, a lot of other back-end programming had to be performed, which is why tickets were not available till 6 pm.’’

So why was the organizing committee still performing ‘backend programming’ on the day the sale of tickets was to begin? No one in the organizing committee had a clue. Secretary General Lalit Bhanot brushed off the matter, saying the system was under maintenance and that tickets were ‘‘now available’’.

‘‘The tickets were made available as soon as the system was updated. There’s no problem,’’ insisted Bhanot. Sanjeev Mittal, head of the ticketing function, added that ticket stocks had been sent to outlets already.

Ironically, the sale of tickets till date is not exactly in numbers that should have taken any decent system much time to update.

Of the 17 lakh tickets that organizing committee hopes to sell for the upcoming sporting event, a little above 1 lakh have been sold till date. Sources admitted that the ceremonies for which 50,000 tickets are each available have actually managed to sell around 12,000 tickets: in total.

Ticket sales of the sporting events are even more dismal. The only sport that has managed to get spectators is hockey, for which a mere 8,000 tickets have been sold. The rest haven’t even managed to generate more than 5,000 ticket sales each, added sources.

NO Time for Security Rehearsals

2010-08-28T05:41:00.000-07:00

In a volte-face of sorts, Delhi Police said on Monday that its primary aim is to ensure a safe Commonwealth Games and nothing has affected preparations so far. The statement comes days after special commissioner (administration) Neeraj Kumar said in a news conference that the ‘‘delay’’ in handing over the sporting venues could have been avoided from the security point of view.

In fact, sources said they ‘‘requested’’ civic agencies to complete the ‘‘crucial’’ part of the construction work before the police took over the venues on September 1.

The fresh defense became necessary following allegations that at several key venues like the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and the Games Village, several security apparatus like cameras, sensors and the much-needed Intrusion Detection System is yet to be installed or tested yet.

The sources said the home ministry would have liked ‘‘extensive testing of the security apparatus, preferably for three months’’. Under the changed circumstances, the security forces are likely to get only 14 days of full dress rehearsals.

A senior officer of Delhi police said mock exercises have already begun at all the venues and 60 drills have so far been conducted. ‘‘The most important job is to familiarise the security forces with the layout of the venues. We do not need heavy gadgets or armoury to carry out such drills,” said the officer.

A company named Electronic Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) was hired to install security devices at the venues. However, at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, for example, a wall around the stadium where the gadgets had to be fitted is yet to be completed.

‘‘A safety audit by an Australian firm appointed by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CWF) has expressed satisfaction about the security. Representatives from 21 nations have been shown the security and traffic plans for two consecutive days and all of them were satisfied. So where is the question of failing the test?’’ asked an official.

CM Requested Opposition Leaders to Stop Blame Game

2010-08-28T05:40:00.000-07:00

Call it a preemptive strike. Even before opposition could launch a full-fledged attack on government over alleged corruption in the Commonwealth Games projects, CM Sheila Dikshit on Monday urged the BJP in the Delhi assembly to ‘‘not make things worse’’ and ‘‘join hands’’ to make the sporting event a great success.

‘‘Don’t do this; otherwise Commonwealth Games will appear to collapse. I am requesting you with folded hands not to do this,’’ said CM Dikshit, anticipating an opposition attack over graft charges.

Dikshit’s comment came after the leader of the opposition, V K Malhotra, raised concerns over cave-in incidents and widespread water logging. Malhotra lashed out at the Congress saying it appeared now no projects would be completed by the final deadline of August 31.

‘Several areas in the city are facing flood-like situation,’’ Malhotra said. He went on to blame civic agencies for carrying out digging which has resulted in huge amount of debris. Malhotra accused the government of not taking the dengue menaces seriously, claiming the disease could prove to be a major embarrassment during the Games.

During the arguments, several Congress MLAs defended the government and blamed the BJP-ruled MCD for ‘‘failing to complete’’ construction work and dengue outbreak.

As the House witnessed uproarious scenes, Dikshit said there was no point is playing the blame game and asked the BJP to join hands to make the Games a success.

‘‘There is no need to worry about the rise in Yamuna water levels. We have shifted only five families from the low lying areas. The situation is totally under control. I am not blaming MCD or any other agency. This is not the time for that. We should work together,’’ she said.

About dengue, she said 25-35% cases have come from outside Delhi and the total dengue cases were not worrying compared to the city’s total population. ‘‘We will look after each and every patient. We are launching awareness programme. Situation is under control. We are taking all the required measures,’’ she said.

Another Shock: Swimming pools may not get certification

2010-08-28T05:39:00.000-07:00

Another Games project is under the scanner. It has been alleged that DDA has spent “too much” to construct four swimming pools the main one and a leisure pool at the Village and one pool each at Siri Fort and Yamuna Sports Complex.

What makes matters worse, said sources familiar with the contract, DDA may not be able to secure mandatory certification from Fidiration Internationale de Natation (FINA), the international body administering swimming standards, before the Games begin. Luckily, Talkatora stadium, the venue for swimming competitions, has obtained certification in time.

Along with the astronomical increase in cost, the tender process was delayed. From the time pre-qualification estimate was prepared, it took DDA more than a year to issue a tender at the end of 2009.

The selection of manufacturers of the filtration equipment is also mired in controversy. In the initial tender document, there were three firms, but just one seemed a genuine manufacturer. At least one prequalified bidder who objected was disqualified, sources said.

Documents with an english daily show that Pentair, a firm that reportedly makes filtration equipment in Spain, found its way into the final list of manufacturers. The then member (engineering) of DDA noted on file that the “basis (for inclusion) of Pentair has not been substantiated”, and added “this be kept on record”.

According to documents, a part of records that are part of a CVC inquiry, Pentair probably does not manufacture big filters and systems required for the Games and they have not possibly catered to Olympic size pools. A mandated inspection of the manufacturing plant in Spain was never undertaken by DDA.

On December 21, 2009 when the post-bid meeting was called, those who submitted tenders were given blank technical documents to fill up including mentioning makes of equipment. Pentair found its place in these documents. Meanwhile, the pools are still not ready.

Delhiites Show Their Grace: Feel Free to Damage road Signs

2010-08-28T05:37:00.000-07:00

The signboards which were supposed to help tourists find their way in Lutyens’ Delhi have already been damaged with the Commonwealth Games still more than a month away.

According to New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), people in several areas in the capital have scratched out letters from the signboards installed at ground level. In many NDMC areas, one is left clueless about the name of a lane or building.

The civic body will now have to replace these signboards and will put a thin film to prevent Delhiites from destroying the signage further. NDMC spokesperson Anand Tiwari said: ‘‘Names of lanes and buildings installed at ground level have been scratched out in many areas. We will now have to replace them and put a thin film over the other signboards to prevent them from being damaged. Fortunately, the overhead signage are untouched. Since the signage are retro-reflective, we can’t even paint the letters back.’’

NDMC was to install around 7,000 signage in its area and the work has almost been completed. An NDMC official said: ‘‘The cost of installing these signage is between Rs 25-30 crore and each signboard has cost Rs 5,000. When we started installing the signage we did not foresee such a problem. We did not imagine that people will actually scratch out letters.’’

The signage which have been partially damaged due to scratching include those installed outside Embassy of Nepal, Patiala House Court, National Human Rights Commission, Palika Kendra and those displayed at Firozshah Road, Rajaji Marg, Kautiliya Marg, Lodi Road, Copernicus Marg, Maharishi Raman Marg etc.

Sources said many residents have objected to the signage being only in English. ‘‘Some people have protested against the use of only English. The usual practice of giving names in Hindi, Urdu, Gurmukhi and English is not being followed every where,’’ said the sources.

According to NDMC officials, ‘‘The signage conform to international standards and norms. They are color coded. The green boards display names of lanes and streets while the blue ones are meant for buildings and yellow stands for caution etc. These retro-reflective signage will be visible at night too.”

Meanwhile, the PWD has almost finished installing signage in its areas. PWD officials said since they have not stuck individual letters as done in NDMC areas, their signboards cannot be damaged. ‘‘We have placed a white sheet and cut out letters from blue or green sheet. Hence, they cannot be scratched out. The cost of installing signage’s in our areas is Rs 25 crore.’’

Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), however, is yet to start installing signage’s.

MCD press and information director Deep Mathur: ‘‘We have started installing polls now and the signboards will be put up shortly.”

After Feedback from Traffic Trails in Routes for athletes may Change

2010-08-28T05:34:00.000-07:00

Even as the Delhi traffic police starts with the trial runs of the Commonwealth Games lane in the city, the organizing committee (OC) is trying to ‘‘fine-tune’’ the route that the athletes and delegates will be taking during the Games period. Talking about the transport plans of the upcoming Delhi Games, special director general, Jiji Thomson, and in charge, transport function, said, ‘‘Though the routes have been decided based on the recommendations of the UTTIPEC, we are waiting for feedback from the traffic trials to fine-tune the route.’’

Thomson’s comment comes even as the Delhi traffic police has announced measures to ensure strict adherence to lanes by Delhi’s traffic. According to OC officials, the dedicated lanes will be used to ferry more than 15,000 people during the Games, besides thousands of OC staff and volunteers. To ferry these people, the OC has divided the transport solutions into groups. The first group, T1, consists of a dedicated car service of around 485 cars with drivers, which will transport delegates from their accommodation to venues and back. T2 will be a motor pool of 1,000 cars available through a call car service while T3 will consist of 349 dedicated AC buses for the athletes. Shuttle service will be provided for individual sports as well as exclusive team buses for team sports. Twenty five routes have been identified for transporting the athletes. A separate bus service will be provided for the media and technical officials. The transport services are available from September 23.

The cars Indigo and SUVs have been provided by Tata Motors, along with 3,000 drivers. Ashish Kumar, deputy director general (transport) of the OC, added that recovery cranes would be set up in 15 locations to ensure that buses which break down on roads don’t create traffic problems.

‘Fifteen Taveras will be kept on stand-by for tyre punctures and 15 bikes for any breakdowns that may occur,’’ added Kumar. Each car in the fleet will be fitted with GPS while a transport operation centre will be set up at the OC headquarters for real time monitoring and tracking.

The OC has also made provisions to ensure assistance from the support staff is easily available. Drivers and other staff will wear a tag saying, ‘‘I can speak English’’ to enable that, added Thomson.

Furniture on Roads for Games: Forget it

2010-08-28T05:33:00.001-07:00

Here is another broken promise. To ensure an ‘‘uniform look’’ in the city, civic bodies were expected to install similar street furniture on 54 major roads leading to stadiums, airport and railway station before the Commonwealth Games. But with streetscaping work yet to complete, the civic agencies were drastically cutting down on what they had promised.

In fact, NDMC said it would not install most of the street furniture items as it was no longer ‘‘viable’’. MCD and PWD, on their part, claimed essential services like toilets, traffic police posts, benches and kiosks would be installed only on major roads.

Said a MCD official: ‘‘Streetscaping work is still going on at Bhism Pitamah Marg, Khel Gaon Marg etc. Till this work doesn’t get over and malba is not removed, work on street furniture cannot start. This work will only start in September and will be completed just before the Games.’’

Street furniture is being installed on BoT basis. It includes coffee kiosks, information kiosks, benches, tree guards, toilets, advertisement panels, traffic police posts and dustbins.

‘‘Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC) has been given the responsibility to procure street furniture for our roads. We are working on bases for street furniture. Installing them will not take time. The work will begin by mid-September,’’ said K K Sharma, principal secretary at PWD. ‘‘In phase-I, all major roads around stadiums will be taken up.’’

As per the original plan, 24 roads belonging to PWD, 21 to MCD and nine to NDMC were supposed to be upgraded with street furniture. MCD said it would now install furniture only on 12 major roads like Bhishm Pitamah Marg, Lodhi Road, Maharishi Valmiki Marg etc. Said MCD press and information director, Deep Mathur: ‘‘We will start work for installing street furniture on 12 stretches soon. The work should be completed by September 7.’’

NDMC claimed it would only install benches along its streetscape stretches. Said NDMC spokesperson, Anand Tiwari: ‘‘There were nine elements that we had decided on earlier but dropped most of them as they did not seem viable. Streetlights and benches will be installed along all of our stretches.’’

Barapullah Road Missed Deadline Once Again

2010-08-28T05:32:00.000-07:00

The lack of coordination between civic agencies continues to plague projects related to the Commonwealth Games 2010. Now, the elaborate landscaping plan for the Barapullah drain basin, which was to be executed by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), has been scrapped. The reason: PWD is yet to hand over the required land.

The construction of the Barapullah Nullah elevated road is still going on and is not expected to complete before the first week of September. Senior officials in the DDA claimed the landscaping plans had to be shelved as the plot of land around the two ends of the Barapullah Nullah Sarai Kale Khan ISBT and Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium has not been handed over to the DDA. ‘‘How can we finish the landscaping work in a month’s time, if the PWD gives us the land in September? Malba is all around the site, with active construction still going on. There’s no way we can start work on landscaping project,’’ said a senior DDA official.

Incidentally, the plans for the area were elaborate, to say the least. The landscaped zone, starting from near JN Stadium and including Pant Nagar, was to have an urban plaza with outdoor sitting, food court, fountain court, lotus wetland. Walkway decks, sculptures and tensile structures were also to come up, especially in the Silver Oak Park. Said the official, ‘‘The Barapullah elevated road ends on the eastern side of JN Stadium. Here, DDA already has the Silver Oak Park, next to the Metro station, which now will be the only site to be landscaped for the Commonwealth Games.’’

Pedestrian connectivity from the Metro station to a foot-over-bridge coming up at Sewa Nagar and then on to the stadium was to be provided in the plan. An urban plaza with artifact display, outdoor sitting, lighting and flagpoles as well as a fountain court was also planned.

At the Ring Road site opposite Siddharth Extension, DDA wanted to build a sun dial, which would have been the focal point for the entry to the elevated road.

PWD officials accepted the delay. ‘‘The decision was taken to hand over to DDA a patch of land in the basin area (along the Nizamuddin railway bridge), as well as the site where the elevated road starts in Ring Road and ends in JN Stadium. But this has been delayed as the construction work is still going on,’’ said the official.

Sources said the DDA would confine itself to landscaping the Silver Oak Park, and areas in the vicinity of JN Stadium. The rest of the project will be taken up after the Commonwealth Games. The project, spread over 4.6km, was estimated to cost over Rs 25 crore. In fact, the DDA had even selected a firm to implement the work more than a month ago, added officials.

Delhi Citizens have not interest in Games: Planning holidays during CWG

2010-08-28T05:31:00.000-07:00

Delhi will keep its date with the Commonwealth Games, but will Delhiites? Former Union sports minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, it seems, is not the only one ‘‘getting the hell out of Delhi’’ during the Games. Travel agents many city residents are booking holiday packages ranging from weekend getaways to longer vacations abroad.

Travel agencies have designed special Commonwealth Games packages to lure customers. Not that they need much tempting. With schools, colleges and even some offices having declared October 3-14 as a vacation, Delhi, it seems, can’t wait to get away.

Travel companies come out with special packages for Oct

A large number of city residents not wanting to be in the city during the Games are booking holiday packages. ‘‘I wonder who will be left in the city to watch the Games. Our agency has booked travel plans for more than a hundred groups during that period. Normally we do get a good response during Dussehra, but with the Games holidays we are getting more bookings than the summer vacations,’’ said Ankit Miglani, manager Welcome Trips Travel Agency.

The destinations are as varied as Rishikesh and Bangkok, ‘‘People just want to move out, it does not matter where they go,’’ said Ankit. ‘‘A cruise to Singapore is the biggest attraction this season. Rs 23,000 are the calling rate for a cruise to Singapore. This has attracted a lot of people.’’

Rajneesh Kapoor from A2Z Travels agrees that a huge chunk of Delhiites will be missing during the Games. ‘‘We are getting a lot of enquiries about 10 every day for special packages during the Games. They are not sure about the dates yet, but once the schools declare their holidays, we have a long queue of people wanting to go out.’’

‘‘There is nothing to hold Delhiites back. The city is in a mess and with added security and traffic restrictions during the event, they just want to move out,’’ he added.

After Bangkok and Singapore, people are eager to go to Goa. ‘‘Considering the number of bookings we are getting, there’s a good chance you might stumble into your neighbour in Goa this October,’’ said Ankit.

Rishikesh is also attracting a lot of people as rafting will resume in October. Anirudh Choudhry, who works in a multinational company said, ‘‘I am planning a trip to Rishikesh with my friends in October. We would rather head out than stay back for the Games. We can watch the events on television too, why should we spoil our holidays?’’

Jassi from J2 Travels has introduced lucrative packages for October. He said, ‘‘Our camps are already booked from the end of September till October 10. We had never got this kind of response during Dussehra. Many companies are taking corporate packages.’’

The leading travel agencies too have introduced packages during the Games both for domestic tourists as well as foreign visitors. Their target destinations are Jaipur, Agra and Ranthambore National park etc. Sources in Delhi Tourism said, ‘‘Tour operators who have offered lucrative tour packages have taken advantage of the situation.’’

Heat on for DDA over Games Pools

2010-08-28T05:28:00.000-07:00

It is not just the Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee that stands accused of inflating payments and manipulating tender processes.

The story of how four training swimming pools, including two at the Commonwealth Games Village, were constructed by Delhi Development Authority is one of blatant price escalation, allegations of tainted tendering and could end with the fiasco of the pools not receiving required certification on time.

As authorities rush to ensure that the pools get their certification ahead of the Games, the Central Vigilance Commission’s technical examiner has begun to scan contracts, especially for filtration equipment procured by DDA which could now face some serious questioning.

The construction of the four swimming pools the main one and a leisure pool at the Village and one pool each at Siri Fort and Yamuna Sports Complex has seen DDA shelling out almost 20 times the price for filtration equipment compared to similar projects completed recently.

The filtration equipment for DDA’s Chilla Sports Complex swimming pool, which has a larger capacity with similar specifications, was completed in April for about Rs 27 lakh. As of now, DDA is paying over Rs 5 crore for each of the main training pools.

When the pre-qualification estimate was done for filtration plants for the first time in September 2008, the estimate was a combined Rs 3.25 crore for the main and leisure pool at the Village. And Rs 2.5 crore each for the pools at Siri Fort and Yamuna complex. The already high rates went up to Rs 3.19 crore in estimates when the chief engineer (electrical) initiated the process for inviting tenders in a few months time. Then, towards the end of 2009, the cost for the filtration plant and other accessories went up to Rs 5.09 crore a pool.

DDA did not reply to a detailed questionnaire sent by english daily Times of India on August 16 on the entire issue.

Swimming pools may not get certification from top body

Another Games project is under the scanner. It has been alleged that DDA has spent “too much” to construct four swimming pools the main one and a leisure pool at the Village and one pool each at Siri Fort and Yamuna Sports Complex.

What makes matters worse, said sources familiar with the contract, DDA may not be able to secure mandatory certification from Fidiration Internationale de Natation (FINA), the international body administering swimming standards, before the Games begin. Luckily, Talkatora stadium, the venue for swimming competitions, has obtained certification in time.

Along with the astronomical increase in cost, the tender process was delayed. From the time pre-qualification estimate was prepared, it took DDA more than a year to issue a tender at the end of 2009.

The selection of manufacturers of the filtration equipment is also mired in controversy. In the initial tender document, there were three firms, but just one seemed a genuine manufacturer. At least one pre-qualified bidder who objected was disqualified, sources said.

Documents with a leading english daily shows that Pentair, a firm that reportedly makes filtration equipment in Spain, found its way into the final list of manufacturers. The then member (engineering) of DDA noted on file that the “basis (for inclusion) of Pentair has not been substantiated”, and added “this be kept on record”.

According to documents, a part of records that are part of a CVC inquiry, Pentair probably does not manufacture big filters and systems required for the Games and they have not possibly catered to Olympic size pools. A mandated inspection of the manufacturing plant in Spain was never undertaken by DDA.

On December 21, 2009 when the post-bid meeting was called, those who submitted tenders were given blank technical documents to fill up including mentioning makes of equipment. Pentair found its place in these documents. Meanwhile, the pools are still not ready.