Govt prepares comprehensive plan for Commonwealth Games security

A comprehensive security plan has been prepared by the government for the safety of the athletes and the officials during next year's Commonwealth Games in the Capital.

'The Government has prepared a comprehensive security plan, in consultation with the Central Security Agencies and Delhi Police, for providing security
including, against terrorist activity,' Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports, Pratik Prakashbapu Patil said in the Rajya Sabha today.

The Minister further informed the House that for prevention of swine flu, Hindu Rao Hospital here has been made the nodal centre screening of suspected cases and collection of samples for laboratory diagnosis.

Two control rooms have also been established in different parts of the Capital to keep quick vigil on the spread of the disease.

To control environmental pollution, various steps have also been taken which inter-alia include plantation of ten lakh plants, provision for greenery on the roads en-route to venues of the Commonwealth Games, effective supervision of solid waste management, prevention of burning of dry leaves and garbage etc.

With shopping festival, fair, Haryana gears up for Commonwealth Games

A fair on the lines of the Surajkund Mela and a shopping festival will take off in Haryana, coinciding with the 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG) in New Delhi in October that is expected to pull in thousands of tourists.

Haryana Tourism will organise the shopping festival at Gurgaon during the CWG, said financial commissioner and principal secretary Keshni Anand Arora. A pre-shopping festival would also be organised in February at Gurgaon to assess the arrangements needed for the October event.

A 'mela' or fair on the pattern of the famous Surajkund Crafts Mela would be organised to showcase the heritage and handicraft of the state.

Arora said local malls and shopping centres would be involved in organising shopping festivals on the lines of the Dubai shopping festival during the CWG.

Haryana Tourism Minister O.P. Jain said the state had so far ensured availability of 6,650 rooms in the national capital region (NCR) around Delhi for the CWG.

He said the sites of 50 acres each had been identified at Dudahera near Gurgaon and at Surajkund, which could be used as camping sites during the international sporting event to accommodate tourists coming to India to watch the CWG.

Gurgaon will host the rifle shooting events of the CWG at the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) shooting range. Arora said roads and other infrastructure around this venue were being upgraded for the CWG.

About 31 percent fund for athlete training utilised, say Indian Government

The government on Thursday said that expenditure of Rs 232.56 crore out of Rs 678 crore, which it had allocated for the training of the athletes in all the disciplines of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, has been incurred.

Replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Youth Affairs & Sports, Pratik Prakashbapu Patil said the scheme was being implemented to improve the performance of the Indian contingent.

According to the minister, the expenditure incurred so far, which is 34.30 percent of the total allocation, is till November 30.

The disciplines getting the benefit of the scheme include Archery, Athletics, Aquatics, Badminton, Boxing(M), Cycling, Gymnastics, Hockey, Lawn Bowls, Netball (W), Rugby 7s(M) Shooting, Squash, Table Tennis, Tennis, Weightlifting, Wrestling, Elite Athletes with Disability (Athletics, Power lifting, Table Tennis and Swimming).

20 new motels to provide cheaper rooms for Commonwealth Games

The concept of motels, a popular lodging option for tourists in many foreign countries, took off late in Delhi, with the first motel being set up at Chhattarpur in 2002.

Now, in view of the Commonwealth Games, for which a large number of rooms will be required to accommodate the tourist inflow, around 20 new motels are coming up in the NCR region, taking the total number of motels to 37 and increasing the number of available rooms to 2,000 in the city.

Owners of the existing motels, however, say the number of rooms can be increased four times if the restrictions put on the expansion of the establishments were done away with. Motels are built on a minimum area of 2.5 acres but have a Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of 15, which only allows for the construction of a basement and a one-storey building, with 50 rooms on an average. A lot of space thus goes unused, owners say. A hotel, on the other hand, has an FAR of 225.

“Commonwealth Games is round the corner and we are in constant touch with the Urban Development ministry to increase the FAR of motels to 175 so that the space can be made available for more tourists. However, despite the DDA approving the proposal in April, the Urban Development ministry has not done anything yet,” says Anil Sarin, a motel owner and president of the Motel Welfare Association.

The existing motels cluster near the Airport area but the new ones are being constructed on the Gurgaon-Mehrauli Road, Badarpur-Faridabad road and NH 8, among others. According to a DDA estimate in May this year, seven of the motels are near completion.

Motel owners say that compared to hotels, motels are a cheaper option. Even if the area of construction is increased, there will be no change in the tariffs, they promise. “Not all guests who visit the city during the Commonwealth Games can spend Rs 10,000 a night. Motels cost anywhere between Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,500 and includes all modern amenities,” Sarin adds.

Rohit Gupta, who owns two motels and a hotel in NCR, says many motels were being constructed in the late 90s as at that time the area was catalogued as agricultural land and only construction of the smaller counterparts of hotels were allowed. “But as areas started being demarcated for commercial use, the land was given to building hotels. Motel owners, meanwhile, are still awaiting permission for expansion,” he says.

Emaar MGF raided over FDI violation

The offices of real estate giant Emaar MGF, which is developing the Commonwealth Games village for next year's mega sporting event, was raided by the Enforcement Directorate over alleged violation of foreign direct investment (FDI) norms.

The firm is believed to have diverted investments meant for the real estate sector to purchase agricultural land.

Under Emaar MGF's agreement with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), agricultural land is a sector barred for investment.

DNA had broken the story October 8 on how Emaar MGF had violated its commitment to the FIPB that had authorised it to bring FDI worth Rs7,000 crore into India. The alleged diversion of FDI happened in 2005-2008. Thursday's raid by the ED is the culmination of several months of investigation by the directorate against the group, which is alleged to have diverted FDI into purchase of cheap agricultural land in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

The ED is reported to have recovered cash of Rs10-15 crore from the offices and residential premises of Emaar-MGF and its key officials.

ED officials have, however, denied reports that the raids against the group are linked to the corruption scam involving former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda.

"About 12 premises in Delhi, Gurgaon and neighbouring cities have been raided today. We had earlier booked the company under Foreign Exchange Management Act. Investigations are on," a senior ED official said.

The total amount of diversion is still under evaluation by the directorate. If charges are proved, the company could be facing a fine that is three times the alleged diversion.
Emaar MGF Land Ltd is a joint venture between Emaar group of Dubai and MGF Development Ltd of India.

The Emaar group claims to have operations in 16 countries. The group started its operations in India in February 2005. The company bagged the contract for constructing the Commonwealth Games Village in Delhi in 2007. The Games Village will be spread across 118 acres and would provide accommodation to over 8,500 participants from across the globe.

Emaar MGF has been embroiled in several controversies in the past few years. In 2007, the income tax department had raided several premises of the company for alleged income tax evasion. The tax sleuths carried out a series of raids in six major cities including, Hyderabad, Chennai, Jaipur, Chandigarh and Delhi.

A concrete case had been built up against the group by the IT department. But a mysterious fire broke out at the tax department's Connaught Place office in the October, 2007 destroying all documents pertaining to Emaar-MGF's case. Delhi Police had even registered a case of sabotage but have not been able to make a breakthrough.
Emaar-MGF had in February, 2008 hit the market with an issue of 10.25 crore shares in a price band of Rs610-690 each to raise Rs7,000 crore.

But it was forced to withdraw the issue after failing to find takers despite extending the closing date from February 6 to February 11 and rolling down the price band from Rs610-690 to Rs530-630. Emaar MGF is again planning to hit the market with a public issue.

Lack of infrasturcture, facilities hinders players' performance

Lack of proper infrastructure and coaching facilities, besides adequate international exposure of the Indian shuttlers was the main reason for their poor show in the international championship, said Chief National Coach Pullela Gopi Chand.

'There is no dearth of skill, stamina and talent in the Indian players against the Malasyia or any other country, but we lack in giving proper and continuous coaching and good training infrastructure to our players,' the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Awardee said.

Talking to mediapersons, Gopi Chand said that now-a-days badminton was getting good publicity and exposure in the media and was helping a lot in the cause.

' I am happy the way the game is being promoted in the country and I am sure that after the Commonwealth Games at New Delhi next year, the sports in the country would receive a boost for the coming two decades like it did after the 1982 Asian Games,' Pullela claimed.

He said that organising several international games in the country had also helped the players a lot to play against the international players and now Indian shuttlers have shown their potential by coming in the World Rankings in every event.

' In the recent times there is lot of support from the sporting fraternity, which enabled the players to have training in other countries and sanctioned international stardard sports gear,' he further added.

When asked whether he had retired from the sports too early, Pullela said that 'he quit the sport due to his frequent injuries, but now he is satisfied to train quite a good number of players, who have all the abilities to win medals in the international tourney particularly during Commonwealth Games.

'Earlier, I had to only see my own game and train for the matches but now I have to keep track on 100 players getting training under my guidence,' he added.

Pullela was here in the preparation for the coming Syed Modi International grand Prix Bandminton to be held from December 15.

He said that the Lucknow tourney would be a great help for the Indian players as they can add points for the world ranking by giving good performance in the championship.

Short of hotels, Gurgaon to take guests home

Gurgaon will offer Bed & Breakfast facilities to guests during the Commonwealth Games in 2010.

The Haryana government approved the scheme to bridge the demand and supply gap in hotel rooms at the NCR towns, including Gurgaon.

The projected capacity of Haryana’s NCR towns is around 8,000 rooms as against a requirement of more than 10,000 rooms.

Till now, 25 houses have been issued licence under the Bed & Breakfast Scheme by the Central government in Gurgaon.

Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner Rajender Kumar Kataria who is the nodal officer for the 2010 Games for NCR towns in Haryana, said it will take longer than expected to build hotels, especially when the hotel industry is facing a financial crisis and the real estate market was in a virtual slump.

He said the bed & breakfast scheme seemed to be the only alternative in such a situation.

“At present there are about 100 bed & breakfasts facilities in Gurgaon and Faridabad,” he said. "We have been able to meet a target of 7,000 plus rooms.”

The house owners will be able to apply under this scheme and offer a maximum of five rooms for renting to guests with complimentary services like power backup, Wi-Fi, air-conditioning and 24X7 security.

Once approved for licensing, the state government will market the facility online.

At present, two kinds of licences are being issued to owners — silver and gold — which have different criteria and payment slots.

The house owners are supposed to fill Form-C and submit it to the respective offices when they have a foreign tourist staying with them.

The government fixes the room rents and the quality of food and services provided are monitored.

The guesthouse owners too have claimed that they would offer the unused rooms.

“We have more than 250 guest houses with 20 rooms each on an average. As 40 to 50 per cent of them remain unused, we would be a great help during the Games,” said Sunil Bawa, the vice-president of Gurgaon Guest House Association. “The state government has not formulated a policy for the guest houses so far. Now, that the Games are less than year away, the state government should come out with a policy to get optimum advantage.”

Jessica Ennis plans to miss 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi

Britain's world champion heptathlete, Jessica Ennis, plans to miss next year's Commonwealth Games and focus instead on the World Indoor Championships and European Championships. The 23-year-old, who is on the short list for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, says competing in Delhi in October would be disruptive as she prepares to defend the world title she won in Berlin this year in Daegu, South Korea in 2011.

"The timing of the Commonwealth Games is not great," she said. "October is when I start my winter training so I'd have to push everything along, and it wouldn't be good for doing an indoor season the following year, which I need to prepare well for the next world championships."

Instead, Ennis is looking forward to the world indoors in Doha in March. She missed the last indoor season after a fractured ankle ruled her out of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

She said: "After missing out on the indoor season last year – I really felt like I lost a whole year – I just want to make the most of it now and take all of the opportunities that come my way. I enjoy the indoor season, it's good to break up the winter training, and it gives you a good indication of how that's going."

After posting a personal best of 6,731 points in Berlin, Ennis is focused on Denise Lewis's British record, of 6,831.

"It's going to come down to improving my second day, mainly," she said. "Working on the long jump and making improvements to the shot and the javelin."

This year's BBC Sports Personality ceremony will take place in Ennis's home town, Sheffield.

"It's surreal to be nominated having watched the show every year," she said. "I went to the ceremony in 2007 in Birmingham and it's a really nice occasion. I remember seeing everyone … and seeing everything they'd achieved that year and it gives you goose pimples and a shiver down your spine. You hope and you wish that one day you're a part of it."

Commonwealth Games Developer Emaar MGF's Offices Raided For Link With Madhu Koda

The offices of 2010 Commonwealth Games Developer Emaar MGF were raided for their links with former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda. The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday carried on the raids at the offices as well as homes of several board members in and around Delhi in connection with the multi-crore money laundering scam.

Emaar has also been charged with alleged violation of foreign exchange rules and diverting money abroad.

A source at the directorate said, “Ten offices of Emaar MGF have been raided in Delhi and Noida in connection with violation of FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act) regulations and diverting money abroad.”

"We are also searching the residences of some board members who have links with Madhu Koda," he added.

"We cannot say anything at this moment. The operation is still on. We can comment only after it is over," he said.

Koda was the chief minister of Jharkhand from September 2006 to August 2008. An independent legislator, he was supported by the Congress, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Rashtriya Janata Dal.

Currently at the centre of a Rs.2, 500-crore money laundering scam, Koda is alleged to have swindled from the treasury to build a personal fortune. But he has denied any wrongdoing.

According to sources in the Enforcement Directorate, several Emaar MGF board members are directly linked to Koda's allegedly illegal transactions. Apparently, Koda used these Emaar MGF board members to send money out of the country in violation of FEMA regulations. The company has also been accused of bringing money into the country in violation of foreign exchange rules, and using this fund to buy agricultural land.

Emaar MGF is a joint venture between Emaar Properties of Dubai and MGF Development of India, brought the largest foreign investment in real estate in India in 2005.The company is developing the participants' village for the 2010 Commonwealth Games