Published: Thursday, Aug 5, 2010, 1:31 IST
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_why-the-congress-will-not-nail-suresh-kalmadi_1419022
Critics of the Commonwealth Games hit the placatory pitch on Wednesday after days of damning allegations on the organisers.
Former Union sports minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, who had termed the people behind the mega sporting event “evil”, toned down his criticism and sought a special committee to oversee the games.
The Congress, which had left Suresh Kalmadi, the chairman of the organising committee to fend for himself, virtually backtracked on its statement, and even the opposition desisted from baying for Kalmadi’s scalp.
The organising committee chairman put up a valiant defence by issuing a statement, claiming he “had not signed a single paper and not been party to awarding contracts”.
He struck an aggressive note by challenging his detractors to produce proof of his involvement in the contracts. He said the contracts were awarded by the finance committee, comprising bureaucrats. “I do not have any financial powers,” he said in the statement.
The Congress seems to have realised that by disowning Kalmadi, it was also exposing sports minister MS Gill and Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, who also are part of the Games, to attacks. It would have been a political blunder.
Moreover, since most of the stadiums are being constructed by the Sports Authority of India (SAI), which is under MS Gill, the urban development ministry under S Jaipal Reddy and Dikshit, Kalmadi’s role begins only after the handing over of the facilities.
Of the entire Rs12,000 crore spent so far, the organising committee is directly handling only Rs1,500 crore.
The government has no control over this body. Prithviraj Chavan, minister in the prime minister’s office, told DNA the money given to the committee is either as loan or advance.
“The committee is like an NGO and the government cannot exercise any control except to ensure that the event is successful,” he said.
The worried government sought to play safe by conceiving a mechanism in the form of a high-level committee to ensure a “clean and successful” event. It did not seem keen to disturb the present arrangement of the organising committee either. It wants some arrangement to supervise day-to-day monitoring of the progress.
The group of ministers (GoM) for the Games under S Jaipal Reddy does not interfere in everyday affairs. It was, however, the GoM which decided every small detail of the opening and closing ceremonies, how the stadiums should be built, etc.
Meanwhile, the government has appointed a three-member panel to look into the allegations of irregularities in awarding contracts. All the officers in it are hand-picked by the prime minister’s office.
A subdued opposition agreed to raise the mismanagement of the games in the Rajya Sabha through a calling attention motion on Thursday. The Left parties sought a probe into role of each person, including ministers and bureaucrats, involved in the Games.
