Corruption probe ordered into New Delhi Commonwealth Games
New Delhi – amid media news exposing misconduct, misappropriation of resources, and corruption observed on the organizers part in the New Delhi Commonwealth Games, the chief organizer has favoured the Indian government’s decision to launch investigations.
The allegations of misconduct, nepotism, procrastination, non-professionalism and corruption had been in the news months before the event actually took place. The credibility of the Indian government in planning and organizing large events came under
question as the corruption on part of the bureaucrats and government officials sent negative signals to the foreigners looking to exploit the investment opportunities in India.
After much criticism from local and foreign media, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ordered the investigation into the reported corruption, cost of construction, payments to the contractors and about other financial irregularities, which were observed
during the preparations for the event.
The holistic picture of the Delhi Commonwealth Games was that of a huge success. However, the ballooned budget of around 6 billion dollars, the highest ever in the history of the Commonwealth Games, along with last minutes changes to facilities provided
to the guests of the event earned a lot of criticism.
Suresh Kalmadi, the chairman of the organizing committee of the Delhi Commonwealth Games, while commenting upon the decision of the Prime Minister regarding the probes into the reported corruption, said that he had welcomed the initiative as soon
as he heard about it.
However, he also aired his expectations that the probe would be comprehensive and would cover all aspects of the matter. He further said that the organizing committee would be more than happy to cooperate with the auditors and would provide all the
relevant details to the panel.
Kalmadi, who happened to be a veteran political survivor and, who had been the head of the Indian Olympic Association for around 14 years, had been inundated with questions regarding mismanagement by the organizing committee throughout the event.
He was unfortunate enough to face each day of the event with new and severe problems surfacing to be addressed on an immediate basis until the closing ceremony. At a rather impressive closing ceremony when it was being considered that the matter
was finally over, issues have reared there head for him all over again.
Concerns about incomplete athletes’ village, shabby construction, and a series of glitches including low turn up of crowd and constant security threats kept on plaguing the whole event. However, Kalmadi had been the man, who instead of admitting
the mismanagement on part of the organizing committee always insisted upon “everything is perfectly alright”.
Kalmadi denied the issue of contaminated water at the swimming pools and news that half a dozen British swimmers and around ten from Australia suffered diarrhea and other stomach diseases.
After all those issues constantly hitting the headlines, after the closing ceremony, Mr. Kalmadi still had the nerve to say that India should have felt proud over the way everything had been taken care of at the event.
The probes, which had been ordered right from the next day of the closing ceremony of the Delhi Commonwealth Games would be headed by the former chief of Comptroller and the Auditor General. The panel is expected to submit its report to Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh by January next year.
Welcoming the probe, the minister for public works at Delhi, Raj Kumar Chauhan, said that his department had already been told to prepare all the necessary details of the projects.
The Commonwealth Games held at Delhi have been considered among the costliest games ever as the Indian authorities claimed to have spent over two billion dollars from October 3 to 14 when the games were under way. After getting to know about the
claims of such hefty costs, the common people seemed rather right in their approach to demand a detailed investigation into the matters.
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