PM puts Kalmadi on Games leash

Suresh Kalmadi today lost his free hand in running the Commonwealth Games after the Prime Minister stepped in to rescue the showpiece event from the delays and corruption charges that have marked its preparations.

Manmohan Singh put all policy decisions relating to the event’s management “directly” into the hands of the group of ministers (GoM) he had set up for the Games a few months ago, and appointed Pranab Mukherjee the final arbiter in any dispute.

Kalmadi, the Games organising committee chief, has so far functioned independently, refusing any decisive say to the GoM and defying all the ministers involved in the event’s preparations, including sports minister M.S. Gill. The involvement of a heavyweight such as Pranab is bound to have a sobering effect on him.

Singh also decided that the organising committee must work in tandem with a bureaucrats’ panel headed by the cabinet secretary, which will ensure implementation of the policy decisions. The panel will interact daily with the organising committee through a secretary-level official from the cabinet secretariat.

The Union cabinet must be given weekly briefings, and Singh will himself visit select Games venues in the last week of August.

Sources said the government might later draft a few senior officials, or a politician, into the organising committee itself.

Although the Prime Minister did not technically form an apex committee to oversee the preparations, the day’s decisions mean that what has so far been the Suresh Kalmadi show has been unambiguously turned into a government event.

Forming an apex committee, or sacking Kalmadi, are apparently ruled out by the agreement signed between hosts India and the Commonwealth Games Federation in 2003.

This afternoon, Singh heard out the parties involved in the Games preparations and made it clear that he was not satisfied with the organising committee’s functioning. He therefore delegated greater authority to the GoM without explicitly saying that Kalmadi’s wings were being clipped.

The Prime Minister directed the ministries concerned to probe all the complaints about procedural and other irregularities, adding that those found guilty should face severe punishment.

At the end, he expressed confidence that “the ongoing preparations supervised directly by the group of ministers would enable the Games to be conducted smoothly and in a befitting manner”.

A statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office after the 90-minute meeting said: “The GoM will refer any matter that may require further consideration to the finance minister for a final decision.”

It also said: “The committee of secretaries, headed by the cabinet secretary, will continue to review implementation and it will have the status of an empowered committee. It will have jurisdiction over matters relating to the organising committee.”

Today’s meeting was attended by Union urban development minister Jaipal Reddy, who heads the GoM, Gill, Delhi lieutenant governor Tejendra Khanna, chief minister Sheila Dikshit and Kalmadi as well as other organising committee officials. Also present were cabinet secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar and the principal secretary to the Prime Minister, T.K.A. Nair.

Singh told the meeting that some of the construction projects had slipped behind schedule and suffered from deficiencies, and that the organising committee must take steps to complete all pending preparations.