Published: Sunday, Aug 1, 2010, 0:45 IST
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_explain-delays-deals-commonwealth-games-organising-committee-told_1417151
The Commonwealth organising committee came in for fresh criticism Saturday. After the Central Vigilance Commission’s report about the poor quality of work at the Games and corruption created a ruckus, cabinet secretary KM Chandrashekhar has asked the Commonwealth Games organising committee to submit details regarding delays in games projects, cost over-runs, and deals that have attracted adverse media attention.
Sports minister MS Gill, on the other hand, said, “Anything that needs to be looked at must be looked at and it will continue even after the games. I believe that we must put forward everything before the Parliament and the people,” he said.
The CVC Saturday said that the reports that appeared in the media were largely of its Technical Examiner and the CVC as a body is yet to look at the report. The CVC had simply advised the organisations involved in the works to take corrective steps. But the CVC itself had drawn no conclusion as reported in the media.
An angry Suresh Kalmadi, chairman, CWG OC, held a press conference where he gave lengthy explanations about a news report which claimed that lakhs of pounds were paid to a firm in contravention of norms. In the process, he blamed the Indian High Commission in London which had suggested that the CWG hire a particular firm to provide services for the Queen’s baton show in October last year in London.
However, prime minister Manmohan Singh is worried. The PMO had checked the Kalmadi-Gill row earlier. But it is unwilling to leave things in the hands of Kalmadi if the bad press continues for the CWG. There is a possibility that some supervisory mechanism may be created to avoid the precarious situation.
The prime minister did create a specialcommittee to decide on the opening and closing ceremonies ofthe CWG. But it never wanted to run the day-to-day affairs, as was the case in 1982 games. But now a supervisory mechanism is being envisaged, even though it is too late in the day.
Official sources said that Chandrasekhar Saturday cancelled a scheduled visit to the office of the OC. However, an OC official, who did not want to be identified, said the “rescheduling of the visit had nothing to do with the CVC reports”.
