Two Scandals Hit the Upcoming Delhi Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games, to be held in Delhi in two months’ time, has been hit by two major scandals at the same time. The first involves evidence of serious corruption involved in contracts given to contractors for building materials and other services, and the other major one involves a UK based taxi firm and dodgy payments being made to it. India is a country where corruption is widespread and very common. The organisers of the Games have been trying to keep it to a minimum but it seems it has weaved its tentacles into the Games at last. Now the Indian government and the organisers of the Games are going to have to step it up and start a cleanup operation in order to make sure they can rid the Games of corrupt elements.
Corruption in India is a huge problem; in 2008, Transparency International ranked India 85th in the world in regards to corruption levels in the country. The country had fallen from 72nd place to 85th in one year. Its perceived corruption index level went from 3.5 to 3.4 meaning that corruption had increased in the country in the space of one year. It could be due to the global recession that affected India along with many other countries around the world. As people lost jobs and inflation increased, people turned to corruption in order to meet their daily needs. It seems this practice has also infiltrated the world of sports in India.
This year’s Commonwealth Games will take place from the 3rd to the 14th of October and will feature athletes from 71 countries. This will be a very big deal for India, because its economy will get a big boost and tourism will increase many fold. Stadiums will have to be built and others upgraded while Delhi will have to get a makeover. The potential for corruption in all this construction and upgrading work is also huge. The Indian government’s corruption watchdog has found evidence of serious corruption that took place in construction projects that were given to various suppliers. The Central Vigilance Commission of India found 16 construction certificates that, when scrutinised, were found to be either fake or suspect. Whenever fake certificates are used, it usually means that substandard work has taken place in construction projects, and it also means that full price was paid for high quality materials but low quality materials were used instead, and so the contractors make a large amount of money on the side. This is a very disturbing turn of events from two aspects; firstly, the fact that corruption occurred means that money is being wasted and not utilised for the proper purpose, and secondly, if substandard work is being done, there is a health and safety risk to the fans and participants who attend events at the stadiums.
The second scandal to hit the Games involves a UK based taxi firm that was paid an unsubstantiated amount of money recently. The Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games has been accused of awarding overpriced contracts to companies that will provide products and services for the Games. One of these companies is UK based AM Cars, which was told to charge £450 for taxi hire during the Queen’s Baton Relay in London. This is a hugely inflated price for taxi hire for one day, and it seems that the person in the Organising Committee who instructed this price be charged was on very good terms with the owner of AM Cars. Also, it has emerged that almost 200,000 pounds were paid to AM Cars and its parent company AM Films without a contract in place. The UK government uncovered the money trail and found amounts that did not add up in their investigation. It seems the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games will have a lot to answer for in the next few days.
The Commonwealth Games are going to be a very positive sporting event for India. That is, if they do not end up being bankrupted with all the corruption that is going on. The commendable thing is that the corruption is being found out and uncovered and once the Games are all done, it will be time to prosecute some people and put in place measures so as to make sure this does not happen again.
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