Commonwealth Games 2010: Indian PM visits the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium
The Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh made a visit to the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in New Delhi on Sunday, 19th of September. The aforementioned stadium has been decided as the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies
of the upcoming Commonwealth Games. Since the success of the mega event is directly associated with India’s reputation in the region and the international world, the PM inspected the area and checked if all the facilities at the venue were up to the mark and
standard of the international delegates.
The preparations of the mega event which will be taking place from the 3rd to the 14th of October have called for a huge deal of corruption allegations on the officials involved in the construction of venues
as well as the Games Village where the delegates will be lodging during their stay in India.
The Premier was accompanied by the Sports Minister of India, M S Gill and Suresh Kalmadi, the chairman of the Organizing Committee. Mr. Manmohan Singh moved around the stadium and scrutinized the stadium for himself. He also probed
into the work that was being done on the venues and the facilities that were being provided to the athletes and the visitors.
The media could not cover the Prime Minister’s visit to the venues because the cameramen and correspondents were not allowed inside the stadium during Manmohan Singh’s 20 minute visit to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
On the 14th of August, the Indian PM called a high level meeting to discuss the delays in the construction of the Games venues and the corruption allegations that were being put on the officials of the Organizing Committee.
He also demanded a review on the preparations of the Games.
The high level meeting was called within a committee of bureaucrats. The PM took notice of the delays in the inauguration of the construction venues. As for the corruption allegations, the PM directed an investigation to be launched
in the procedural irregularities. He said that those who will be found guilty will have to face dire consequences and will have to suffer punishments.
On the other hand other officials of the Organizing Committee of the Commonwealth Games have repeatedly recorded statements during press releases that the venues and the facilities are absolutely in order and New Delhi is all set
to host a mega event like this on the scheduled date that is the 3rd of October. The chairman of the Organizing Committee will make a final visit to the venues in the last week of this month to make sure that everything will go as per planned.
The health advisory of the Commonwealth Games has been doing a great deal of work announcing the precautionary measures and vaccinations of influenza. Also since dengue fever has laid a couple of local athletes down before the
start of the Games, it is a big threat for all the visitors and delegates of the Commonwealth Games.
Missions and delegations from over 71 participating nations have already arrived in New Delhi and have started to move to the Games Village which is built on the banks of the Yamuna River.
The Indian swimming squad has also started practicing in the indoor swimming pool. Another issue was also created when the members of the Indian Swimming team were stopped at the gates of the newly built swimming stadium for more
than 20 minutes and thoroughly checked for security reasons. The team had been coming to the stadium for about a week when this incident happened. It actually infuriated the swimmers and the head coach of the team because they had to go through security check,
and that too a very intense one in their own country.
Ever since the preparations for the Commonwealth Games started, the event has been subjected to a lot of criticism from the local public and politicians. A number of people have boycotted the event since they were of the view that
the Indian Government is just wasting its finances by hosting such an event, rather than using the money in various ongoing development projects in the country.
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