Will be ready for Commonwealth Games by Aug: Sheila Dikshit

With a little over six months to go for the nineteenth edition of the Commonwealth Games to get underway, Delhi's Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit said preparations are on in full swing and Delhi would be ready for the Games by August 2010.

In an exclusive interview with Vir Sanghvi on CNBC-TV18's show Off The Record, Dikshit spoke on a range of issues.

Excerpts from the interview.

Q: I want to start by asking you something that is on the top of our minds and that’s the Commonwealth Games? How ready are we?

A: We are ready. I won’t say that we are ready at this moment. But things are moving and they are moving according to schedule. It could be a month this way or that way but certainly by July-August everything will be in shape.

Q: One of the problems people say is that there is a multiplicity of authorities involved, there is the Commonwealth Games Association locally, there is their counterpart internationally who they appear to be fighting with, there is the sports ministry, there is you and your government. Has that been a problem?

A: Yes that was certainly a problem. But the Prime Minister set up this Group of Ministers (GoM). Since the GoM started working effectively and we all came together the message went down to the officers who implement everything that we decide or whoever decides. It went down clearly that we have to work together. What I am still not very comfortable with is the opening and the closing ceremonies.

Q: What happens next? Fourth elections?

A: It’s a long way off, I am not even thinking of that. Right now I am immersed completely in the Commonwealth Games.

Q: You can rule it out and say no three is enough?

A: That’s what I would really think so. I think Delhi also needs a change.