Games Siren For Foreign Delegates, Confirm Participation Or Face Room Crunch, Officials Told

The Games organisers have given foreign delegates from the Commonwealth nations time till August 1 to confirm their participation in the event, now barely three months away.

If the delegates do not confirm their visit by then, the hundreds of rooms reserved for them by the organisers in fiveand four-star hotels will not be available anymore.

That could lead to an accommodation crunch.

The hotels would "unblock" the rooms whose reservations are not confirmed by the Organising Committee (OC) by August 1. "We have told the delegates to finalise their participation details and inform us as early as possible. We need to make the arrangements at our end well in advance," said Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the Organising Committee.

The organisers were supposed to confirm the accommodation at the hotels 90 days ahead of the Games, but due to lack of bookings from foreign delegates, the OC sought more time from the hotels.

"Hotels gave us time up till 60 days before the D-day to confirm the bookings," T.S. Darbari, Joint Director General of Organising Committee told a gathering of High Commissioners and senior officials of the High Commissions of 11 Commonwealth nations on Monday.