India fears Commonwealth Games embarrassment

With less than 50 days to go before the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, concerns about India's lack of preparedness have reached a fever pitch.
Fear of national embarrassment over India's notorious inability to deliver infrastructure has triggered a search for those responsible.

After an emergency meeting at the weekend, Manmohan Singh, prime minister, ordered investigations into complaints of corruption and mismanagement.

He named a panel, to be headed by S. Jaipal Reddy, minister of urban development, to supervise the completion of construction of venues still lacking toilets, safe access and catering facilities.

Earlier this month, a new weightlifting arena was met with public derision after its corrugated iron roof failed to keep out heavy monsoon rains.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata party has protested against the ballooning cost of the games -- now estimated at more than Rs100bn ($2.1 billion) compared with an original estimate of Rs19bn -- and inflated contracts handed to businesses ill-equipped to deliver.

Suresh Kalmadi, a senior Congress party politician and head of the games' local organizing committee, and Sheila Dikshit, the chief minister of Delhi, have been singled out for vilification in the national press.

"The prime minister observed that there had been slippages in the time schedules of some of the construction works and deficiencies had also been observed in some of the works," Mr Singh's office said in a statement.

It said the government needed "to gain public confidence by instilling order and carrying out effective supervision of the preparation works." The Central Vigilance Commission, an anti-corruption watchdog, has identified 16 projects where financial irregularities are suspected.

Mr Singh's high-profile intervention comes ahead of a deadline on Wednesday for a team of outside experts to assess the quality and safety of the games venues and their suitability for top-class athletes.

Much to the Indian government's disappointment, a string of athletes from Commonwealth countries, including Chris Hoy, the medal-winning British cyclist and Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter, have pulled out of the event, citing clashes with sporting commitments elsewhere.

Queen Elizabeth II has sent similar regrets. "The stadiums we built match the best in the world and far in excess of the requirement," said M S Gill, sports minister. "It is therefore sad that some of the leading sportspersons are not coming to India."

Hoteliers in India's capital too say bookings have been disappointing. Some senior politicians and commentators have been scathing in their criticism of the games, eroding public confidence in what was supposed to be a national showcase for an emerging Asian power akin to Beijing's hosting of the Olympics in 2008.

Mani Shankar Aiyar, a member of the upper house of parliament and former sports minister, said he hoped the Commonwealth Games would fail so as to deter India from hosting other large sporting events.

Even Mr Gill has said he would not wish India to host the Olympic Games as most of its 1.2 billion people are not interested in organized sport and should not bear the cost of it.

M J Akbar, a senior journalist and publisher of the International Herald Tribune in India, described the games as an unsuccessful ruse by India's elite to bring new infrastructure, such as a metro system, to the capital city ahead of more deserving cities.

As far back as three years ago preparations were running into trouble. Then activists were kicking up a fuss about an athletes' village being built on the flood plain of the sacred Yamuna river.