Crisis Commonwealth Games 2010
Commonwealth Games 2010, scheduled to take place in India this year, is being considered to be a threat zone by the international sports industry. The venues in New Delhi which are set to host the event in October are still under construction. This has led to the various organizing committee officials being suspended and the cost of building the venues have sky rocketed as well. Some critics are of the view that it is not very wise to spend so much money on a single event especially when the condition of the general public in India is in tatters.
The problems are further intensified when top athletes, including the Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, have withdrawn from the event. Queen Elizabeth II, the figure which unites the 71 countries of the Commonwealth, has also refused to visit India for the games.
Looking at how China designed and built a new airport and other sports venues for the summer Olympic Games in Beijing 2008, the Indians are under a lot of stress to maintain the high standards for the Commonwealth Games.
However, India’s desire to show its clout as an emerging regional power en route this international event, India’s government is doing nothing. It’s made matters worse with various corruption allegations and scandals coming to the forefront.
According to political analysts, India has insignificantly progressed in public sector development and its implementation. Such is the situation that the Prime Minister of India had to step in. Manmohan Singh spoke on this matter last week where he revealed that he was setting a team to look into the corruption issues stemming from the preparations of the Commonwealth Games. Singh has further appointed Cabinet Ministers to make sure that nothing goes wrong in the preparation for the CWG 2010.
All stakeholders including an upset public and construction workers have blamed the organizing committee for all the mess. The Commonwealth Games which will start from the 3rd to the 14th of October.
The Times of India in a caricature a few days back depicted former sports minister on a ventilator while the current sports minister passing out, since the Games turned out to be a complete disaster. If that is the case in the days to come, then it will be a lesson for India that one should never bid for something that it can’t deliver.
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit is reported to have requested the public to co-operate with the management and look at the brighter side of the consequences of the hosting an international sports event like this.
However, the problems that are stemming from this event are impossible to be overlooked by the local population.
Letting apart what the public has to face, the sporting venues which should have been completed and tested for safety of the athletes up till now are still under construction and it is yet too early to comment on the credibility of the construction companies.
The labour working at these venues is still working to re-build the already collapsed corrugated tin roof of the weight lifting arena. The damage was caused by heavy rainfalls of the monsoon season.
The Shivaji Stadium, which was to be used for the hockey teams in the Commonwealth Games, is a site of rotting construction material, dust and chaos. So much so that the 4 kilometre long bridge connecting the stadium for easy movement for the athletes has gaps in it.
Despite the biggest mess in sporting history, the CEO of the Commonwealth Games Federation seems very optimistic about the whole preparation process. He thinks the management’s first priority should be to complete the ongoing work with responsibility. The projects that were in the pipeline to make the city beautiful for this huge international event now seem to be abandoned as they have been re-scheduled after the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. The event was anticipating at least 100,000 tourists from across the world. However, as of now, various sports analysts have their doubts as to whether there will be any international spectators attending the Games. The situation is nerve wrecking for both the Indians and for those athletes who will have to visit India in a painful experience.
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